Javaserver Faces Specification: Ed Burns and Manfred Riem Editors

JavaServer™ Faces Specification
Version 2.3
Ed Burns and Manfred Riem editors
See <https://jsf-spec.java.net/>
to comment on and discuss this specification.
Oracle America, Inc

500 Oracle Parkway
Redwood Shores, CA 94065
650 506 7000
March 2017
Submit comments to users@javaserverfaces-spec-public.java.net
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If you are reading this document without having accepted this license, please do so by visiting <https://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=372> and following
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March 2017
Contents
Preface 1
Changes between 2.2 and 2.3 1
Big Ticket Features 1
Other Features, by Functional Area 2
Components/Renderers 2
Lifecycle 3
Platform Integration 4
Facelets/VDL 4
Spec Clarifications 5
Resources 6
Expression Language. 6
Configuration and Bootstrapping 6
Miscellaneous 6
Backward Compatibility with Previous Versions 6
Breakages in Backward Compatibility 7
Related Technologies 7
Other Java™ Platform Specifications 7
Related Documents and Specifications 7
Terminology 8
Providing Feedback 8
Acknowledgements 8
1. Overview 1–11
1.1 Solving Practical Problems of the Web 1–11
1.2 Specification Audience 1–12
1.2.1 Page Authors 1–12
1.2.2 Component Writers 1–12
Contents ii
1.2.3 Application Developers 1–13
1.2.4 Tool Providers 1–13
1.2.5 JSF Implementors 1–14
1.3 Introduction to JSF APIs 1–14
1.3.1 package javax.faces 1–14
1.3.2 package javax.faces.application 1–14
1.3.3 package javax.faces.component 1–14
1.3.4 package javax.faces.component.html 1–15
1.3.5 package javax.faces.context 1–15
1.3.6 package javax.faces.convert 1–15
1.3.7 package javax.faces.el 1–15
1.3.8 package javax.faces.flow and javax.faces.flow.builder 1–15
1.3.9 package javax.faces.lifecycle 1–15
1.3.10 package javax.faces.event 1–15
1.3.11 package javax.faces.render 1–16
1.3.12 package javax.faces.validator 1–16
1.3.13 package javax.faces.webapp 1–16
2. Request Processing Lifecycle 2–1

2.1 Request Processing Lifecycle Scenarios 2–2
2.1.1 Non-Faces Request Generates Faces Response 2–2
2.1.2 Faces Request Generates Faces Response 2–2
2.1.3 Faces Request Generates Non-Faces Response 2–3
2.2 Standard Request Processing Lifecycle Phases 2–4
2.2.1 Restore View 2–4
2.2.2 Apply Request Values 2–5
2.2.2.1 Apply Request Values Partial Processing 2–6
2.2.3 Process Validations 2–6
2.2.3.1 Partial Validations Partial Processing 2–7
2.2.4 Update Model Values 2–7
2.2.4.1 Update Model Values Partial Processing 2–8
2.2.5 Invoke Application 2–8
2.2.6 Render Response 2–8
2.2.6.1 Render Response Partial Processing 2–9
2.3 Common Event Processing 2–10
2.4 Common Application Activities 2–11
iii JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

2.4.1 Acquire Faces Object References 2–11
2.4.1.1 Acquire and Configure Lifecycle Reference 2–11
2.4.1.2 Acquire and Configure FacesContext Reference 2–12
2.4.2 Create And Configure A New View 2–12
2.4.2.1 Create A New View 2–12
2.4.2.2 Configure the Desired RenderKit 2–13
2.4.2.3 Configure The View’s Components 2–13
2.4.2.4 Store the new View in the FacesContext 2–13
2.5 Concepts that impact several lifecycle phases 2–13
2.5.1 Value Handling 2–14
2.5.1.1 Apply Request Values Phase 2–14
2.5.1.2 Process Validators Phase 2–14
2.5.1.3 Executing Validation 2–14
2.5.1.4 Update Model Values Phase 2–14
2.5.2 Localization and Internationalization (L10N/I18N) 2–14
2.5.2.1 Determining the active Locale 2–15
2.5.2.2 Determining the Character Encoding 2–15
2.5.2.3 Localized Text 2–16
2.5.2.4 Localized Application Messages 2–16
2.5.3 State Management 2–19
2.5.3.1 State Management Considerations for the Custom Component Author 2–19
2.5.3.2 State Management Considerations for the JSF Implementor 2–20
2.5.4 Resource Handling 2–21
2.5.5 View Parameters 2–21
2.5.6 Bookmarkability 2–22
2.5.7 JSR 303 Bean Validation 2–22
2.5.8 Ajax 2–23
2.5.9 Component Behaviors 2–23
2.5.10 System Events 2–24
2.6 Resource Handling 2–25
2.6.1 Packaging Resources 2–25
2.6.1.1 Packaging Resources into the Web Application Root 2–25
2.6.1.2 Packaging Resources into the Classpath 2–25
2.6.1.3 Resource Identifiers 2–25
2.6.1.4 Libraries of Localized and Versioned Resources 2–27
Contents iv
2.6.2 Rendering Resources 2–30
2.6.2.1 Relocatable Resources 2–30
2.6.2.2 Resource Rendering Using Annotations 2–31
2.7 Resource Library Contracts 2–31
3. User Interface Component Model 3–1

3.1 UIComponent and UIComponentBase 3–1
3.1.1 Component Identifiers 3–2
3.1.2 Component Type 3–2
3.1.3 Component Family 3–2
3.1.4 ValueExpression properties 3–2
3.1.5 Component Bindings 3–3
3.1.6 Client Identifiers 3–4
3.1.7 Component Tree Manipulation 3–4
3.1.8 Component Tree Navigation 3–5
3.1.9 Facet Management 3–6
3.1.10 Managing Component Behavior 3–7
3.1.11 Generic Attributes 3–7
3.1.11.1 Special Attributes 3–8
3.1.12 Render-Independent Properties 3–9
3.1.13 Component Specialization Methods 3–10
3.1.14 Lifecycle Management Methods 3–11
3.1.15 Utility Methods 3–12
3.2 Component Behavioral Interfaces 3–12
3.2.1 ActionSource 3–12
3.2.1.1 Properties 3–13
3.2.1.2 Methods 3–13
3.2.1.3 Events 3–13
3.2.2 ActionSource2 3–14
3.2.2.2 Methods 3–14
3.2.2.3 Events 3–14
3.2.3 NamingContainer 3–15
3.2.4 StateHolder 3–15
3.2.4.2 Methods 3–15
v JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

3.2.4.3 Events 3–16
3.2.5 PartialStateHolder 3–16
3.2.5.2 Methods 3–16
3.2.5.3 Events 3–17
3.2.6 ValueHolder 3–17
3.2.6.2 Methods 3–17
3.2.6.3 Events 3–17
3.2.7 EditableValueHolder 3–18
3.2.7.2 Methods 3–18
3.2.7.3 Events 3–19
3.2.8 SystemEventListenerHolder 3–19
3.2.8.2 Methods 3–19
3.2.8.3 Events 3–20
3.2.9 ClientBehaviorHolder 3–20
3.3 Conversion Model 3–21
3.3.1 Overview 3–21
3.3.2 Converter 3–21
3.3.3 Standard Converter Implementations 3–22
3.4 Event and Listener Model 3–24
3.4.2 Application Events 3–26
3.4.2.1 Event Classes 3–26
3.4.2.2 Listener Classes 3–27
3.4.2.3 Phase Identifiers 3–27
3.4.2.4 Listener Registration 3–27
3.4.2.5 Event Queueing 3–28
3.4.2.6 Event Broadcasting 3–28
3.4.3 System Events 3–28
3.4.3.3 Programmatic Listener Registration 3–30
Contents vi
3.4.3.4 Declarative Listener Registration 3–30
3.4.3.5 Listener Registration By Annotation 3–30
3.4.3.6 Listener Registration By Application Configuration Resources 3–31
3.4.3.7 Event Broadcasting 3–31
3.5 Validation Model 3–32
3.5.2 Validator Classes 3–32
3.5.3 Validation Registration 3–32
3.5.4 Validation Processing 3–33
3.5.5 Standard Validator Implementations 3–34
3.5.6 Bean Validation Integration 3–34
3.5.6.1 Bean Validator Activation 3–35
3.5.6.2 Obtaining a ValidatorFactory 3–35
3.5.6.3 Class-Level Validation 3–35
3.5.6.4 Localization of Bean Validation Messages 3–36
3.6 Composite User Interface Components 3–37
3.6.1 Non-normative Background 3–37
3.6.1.1 What does it mean to be a JSF User Interface component? 3–37
3.6.1.2 How does one make a custom JSF User Interface component (JSF 1.2 and earlier)? 3–
38
3.6.1.3 How does one make a composite component? 3–38
3.6.1.4 A simple composite component example 3–39
3.6.1.5 Walk through of the run-time for the simple composite component example 3–40
3.6.1.6 Composite Component Terms 3–41
3.6.2 Normative Requirements 3–42
3.6.2.1 Composite Component Metadata 3–43
3.7 Component Behavior Model 3–44
3.7.2 Behavior Interface 3–45
3.7.3 BehaviorBase 3–45
3.7.4 The Client Behavior Contract 3–45
3.7.5 ClientBehaviorHolder 3–46
3.7.6 ClientBehaviorRenderer 3–46
3.7.7 ClientBehaviorContext 3–46
3.7.8 ClientBehaviorHint 3–47
3.7.9 ClientBehaviorBase 3–47
vii JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

3.7.10 Behavior Event / Listener Model 3–48
3.7.10.3 Listener Registration 3–48
3.7.11 Ajax Behavior 3–48
3.7.11.1 AjaxBehavior 3–48
3.7.11.2 Ajax Behavior Event / Listener Model 3–49
3.7.12 Adding Behavior To Components 3–49
3.7.13 Behavior Registration 3–50
3.7.13.1 XML Registration 3–50
3.7.13.2 Registration By Annotation 3–50
4. Standard User Interface Components 4–1

4.1 Standard User Interface Components 4–1
4.1.1 UIColumn 4–3
4.1.1.1 Component Type 4–3
4.1.1.3 Methods 4–3
4.1.1.4 Events 4–3
4.1.2 UICommand 4–4
4.1.2.3 Methods 4–4
4.1.2.4 Events 4–4
4.1.3 UIData 4–5
4.1.3.3 Methods 4–6
4.1.3.4 Events 4–6
4.1.4 UIForm 4–7
4.1.4.3 Methods. 4–7
4.1.4.4 Events 4–8
4.1.5 UIGraphic 4–9
Contents viii
4.1.5.3 Methods 4–9
4.1.5.4 Events 4–9
4.1.6 UIInput 4–10
4.1.6.3 Methods 4–11
4.1.6.4 Events 4–11
4.1.7 UIMessage 4–12
4.1.7.3 Methods. 4–12
4.1.7.4 Events 4–12
4.1.8 UIMessages 4–13
4.1.8.3 Methods. 4–13
4.1.8.4 Events 4–13
4.1.9 UIOutcomeTarget 4–14
4.1.9.3 Methods 4–14
4.1.9.4 Events 4–14
4.1.10 UIOutput 4–15
4.1.10.3 Methods 4–15
4.1.10.4 Events 4–15
4.1.11 UIPanel 4–16
4.1.11.3 Methods 4–16
4.1.11.4 Events 4–16
4.1.12 UIParameter 4–17
ix JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

4.1.12.3 Methods 4–17
4.1.12.4 Events 4–17
4.1.13 UISelectBoolean 4–18
4.1.13.3 Methods 4–18
4.1.13.4 Events 4–18
4.1.14 UISelectItem 4–19
4.1.14.3 Methods 4–19
4.1.14.4 Events 4–19
4.1.15 UISelectItems 4–20
4.1.15.3 Methods 4–20
4.1.15.4 Events 4–20
4.1.16 UISelectMany 4–21
4.1.16.3 Methods 4–21
4.1.16.4 Events 4–21
4.1.17 UISelectOne 4–22
4.1.17.3 Methods 4–22
4.1.17.4 Events 4–22
4.1.18 UIViewParameter 4–23
4.1.19 UIViewRoot 4–24
4.1.19.3 Methods 4–25
4.1.19.4 Events 4–25
4.1.19.5 Partial Processing 4–26
Contents x
4.2 Standard UIComponent Model Beans 4–27
4.2.1 DataModel 4–27
4.2.1.2 Methods 4–27
4.2.1.3 Events 4–27
4.2.1.4 Concrete Implementations 4–27
4.2.2 SelectItem 4–29
4.2.2.2 Methods 4–29
4.2.2.3 Events 4–29
4.2.3 SelectItemGroup 4–30
4.2.3.2 Methods 4–30
4.2.3.3 Events 4–30
5. Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5–1

5.1 Value Expressions 5–1
5.1.2 Value Expression Syntax and Semantics 5–2
5.2 MethodExpressions 5–2
5.2.1 MethodExpression Syntax and Semantics 5–4
5.3 The Managed Bean Facility 5–4
5.3.1 Managed Bean Configuration Example 5–7
5.4 Managed Bean Annotations 5–9
5.4.1 JSF Managed Classes and Java EE Annotations 5–9
5.4.2 Managed Bean Lifecycle Annotations 5–11
5.5 How Faces Leverages the Unified EL 5–12
5.5.1 ELContext 5–12
5.5.1.1 Lifetime, Ownership and Cardinality 5–12
5.5.1.3 Methods 5–13
5.5.1.4 Events 5–13
5.5.2 ELResolver 5–13
5.5.2.1 Lifetime, Ownership, and Cardinality 5–14
5.5.2.3 Methods 5–14
xi JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

5.5.2.4 Events 5–14
5.5.3 ExpressionFactory 5–14
5.5.3.1 Lifetime, Ownership, and Cardinality 5–14
5.5.3.3 Methods 5–15
5.5.3.4 Events 5–15
5.6 ELResolver Instances Provided by Faces 5–15
5.6.1 Faces ELResolver for JSP Pages 5–15
5.6.1.1 Faces Implicit Object ELResolver For JSP 5–16
5.6.1.2 ManagedBean ELResolver 5–18
5.6.1.3 Resource ELResolver 5–20
5.6.1.4 ResourceBundle ELResolver for JSP Pages 5–20
5.6.1.5 ELResolvers in the application configuration resources 5–22
5.6.1.6 VariableResolver Chain Wrapper 5–22
5.6.1.7 PropertyResolver Chain Wrapper 5–23
5.6.1.8 ELResolvers from Application.addELResolver() 5–24
5.6.2 ELResolver for Facelets and Programmatic Access 5–24
5.6.2.1 Implicit Object ELResolver for Facelets and Programmatic Access 5–25
5.6.2.2 Composite Component Attributes ELResolver 5–29
5.6.2.3 The CompositeELResolver 5–31
5.6.2.4 ManagedBean ELResolver 5–31
5.6.2.5 Resource ELResolver 5–31
5.6.2.6 el.ResourceBundleELResolver 5–33
5.6.2.7 ResourceBundle ELResolver for Programmatic Access 5–33
5.6.2.8 Stream, StaticField, Map, List, Array, and Bean ELResolvers 5–33
5.6.2.9 ScopedAttribute ELResolver 5–33
5.6.3 CDI for EL Resolution 5–35
5.7 Current Expression Evaluation APIs 5–35
5.7.1 ELResolver 5–35
5.7.2 ValueExpression 5–35
5.7.3 MethodExpression 5–36
5.7.4 Expression Evaluation Exceptions 5–36
5.8 Deprecated Expression Evaluation APIs 5–36
5.8.1 VariableResolver and the Default VariableResolver 5–36
5.8.2 PropertyResolver and the Default PropertyResolver 5–36
Contents xii
5.8.3 ValueBinding 5–37
5.8.4 MethodBinding 5–37
5.8.5 Expression Evaluation Exceptions 5–38
5.9 CDI Integration 5–38
5.9.1 JSF Objects Valid for @Inject Injection 5–38
5.9.2 EL Resolution 5–39
6. Per-Request State Information 6–1

6.1 FacesContext 6–1
6.1.1 Application 6–1
6.1.2 Attributes 6–1
6.1.3 ELContext 6–2
6.1.4 ExternalContext 6–2
6.1.4.1 Flash 6–4
6.1.5 ViewRoot 6–4
6.1.6 Message Queue 6–4
6.1.7 RenderKit 6–5
6.1.8 ResponseStream and ResponseWriter 6–5
6.1.9 Flow Control Methods 6–5
6.1.10 Partial Processing Methods 6–6
6.1.11 Partial View Context 6–6
6.1.12 Access To The Current FacesContext Instance 6–6
6.1.13 CurrentPhaseId 6–7
6.1.14 ExceptionHandler 6–7
6.2 ExceptionHandler 6–7
6.2.1 Default ExceptionHandler implementation 6–8
6.2.2 Backwards Compatible ExceptionHandler 6–9
6.2.3 Default Error Page 6–9
6.3 FacesMessage 6–10
6.4 ResponseStream 6–10
6.5 ResponseWriter 6–11
6.6 FacesContextFactory 6–13
6.7 ExceptionHandlerFactory 6–13
6.8 ExternalContextFactory 6–14
7. Application Integration 7–1
xiii JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

7.1 Application 7–1
7.1.1 ActionListener Property 7–1
7.1.2 DefaultRenderKitId Property 7–2
7.1.3 FlowHandler Property 7–2
7.1.4 NavigationHandler Property 7–3
7.1.5 StateManager Property 7–3
7.1.6 ELResolver Property 7–3
7.1.7 ELContextListener Property 7–3
7.1.8 ViewHandler Property 7–4
7.1.9 ProjectStage Property 7–4
7.1.10 Acquiring ExpressionFactory Instance 7–4
7.1.11 Programmatically Evaluating Expressions 7–5
7.1.12 Object Factories 7–5
7.1.12.1 Default Validator Ids 7–6
7.1.13 Internationalization Support 7–7
7.1.14 System Event Methods 7–7
7.1.14.1 Subscribing to system events 7–7
7.1.14.2 Unsubscribing from system events 7–8
7.2 ApplicationFactory 7–8
7.3 Application Actions 7–8
7.4 NavigationHandler 7–9
7.4.2 Default NavigationHandler Algorithm 7–10
7.4.2.1 Requirements for Explicit Navigation in Faces Flow Call Nodes other than ViewNodes
7–13
7.4.2.2 Requirements for Entering a Flow 7–14
7.4.2.3 Requirements for Exiting a Flow 7–14
7.4.2.4 Requirements for Calling A Flow from the Current Flow 7–14
7.4.3 Example NavigationHandler Configuration 7–15
7.5 FlowHandler 7–19
7.5.1 Non-normative example 7–20
7.5.2 Non-normative Feature Overview 7–21
7.6 ViewHandler 7–22
7.6.2 Default ViewHandler Implementation 7–24
7.6.2.1 ViewHandler Methods that Derive Information From the Incoming Request 7–24
Contents xiv
7.6.2.2 ViewHandler Methods that are Called to Fill a Specific Role in the Lifecycle 7–26
7.6.2.3 ViewHandler Methods Relating to Navigation 7–26
7.6.2.4 ViewHandler Methods that relate to View Protection 7–28
7.7 ViewDeclarationLanguage 7–28
7.7.1 ViewDeclarationLanguageFactory 7–28
7.7.2 Default ViewDeclarationLanguage Implementation 7–29
7.7.2.1 ViewDeclarationLanguage.createView() 7–29
7.7.2.2 ViewDeclarationLanguage.calculateResourceLibraryContracts() 7–30
7.7.2.3 ViewDeclarationLanguage.buildView() 7–30
7.7.2.4 ViewDeclarationLanguage.getComponentMetadata() 7–30
7.7.2.5 ViewDeclarationLanguage.getViewMetadata() and getViewParameters() 7–31
7.7.2.6 ViewDeclarationLanguage.getScriptComponentResource() 7–32
7.7.2.7 ViewDeclarationLanguage.renderView() 7–32
7.7.2.8 ViewDeclarationLanguage.restoreView() 7–33
7.8 StateManager 7–33
7.8.1.1 Stateless Views 7–34
7.8.2 State Saving Alternatives and Implications 7–34
7.8.3 State Saving Methods. 7–35
7.8.4 State Restoring Methods 7–35
7.8.5 Convenience Methods 7–36
7.9 ResourceHandler 7–36
7.10 Deprecated APIs 7–36
7.10.1 PropertyResolver Property 7–36
7.10.2 VariableResolver Property 7–37
7.10.3 Acquiring ValueBinding Instances 7–37
7.10.4 Acquiring MethodBinding Instances 7–37
7.10.5 Object Factories 7–38
7.10.6 StateManager 7–38
7.10.7 ResponseStateManager 7–38
8. Rendering Model 8–1

8.1 RenderKit 8–1
8.2 Renderer 8–3
8.3 ClientBehaviorRenderer 8–4
8.3.1 ClientBehaviorRenderer Registration 8–4
xv JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

8.4 ResponseStateManager 8–5
8.5 RenderKitFactory 8–5
8.6 Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation 8–6
8.7 The Concrete HTML Component Classes 8–6
9. Integration with JSP 9–1

9.1 UIComponent Custom Actions 9–1
9.2 Using UIComponent Custom Actions in JSP Pages 9–2
9.2.1 Declaring the Tag Libraries 9–2
9.2.2 Including Components in a Page 9–3
9.2.3 Creating Components and Overriding Attributes 9–3
9.2.4 Deleting Components on Redisplay 9–4
9.2.5 Representing Component Hierarchies 9–5
9.2.6 Registering Converters, Event Listeners, and Validators 9–5
9.2.7 Using Facets 9–6
9.2.8 Interoperability with JSP Template Text and Other Tag Libraries 9–6
9.2.9 Composing Pages from Multiple Sources 9–7
9.3 UIComponent Custom Action Implementation Requirements 9–7
9.3.1 Considerations for Custom Actions written for JavaServer Faces 1.1 and 1.0 9–9
9.3.1.1 Past and Present Tag constraints 9–10
9.3.1.2 Faces 1.0 and 1.1 Taglib migration story 9–10
9.4 JSF Core Tag Library 9–11
9.4.1 <f:actionListener> 9–12
Syntax 9–12
Body Content 9–12
Attributes 9–12
Constraints 9–12
Description 9–12
9.4.2 <f:attribute> 9–13
Syntax 9–13
Body Content 9–13
Attributes 9–13
Constraints 9–13
Description 9–13
9.4.3 <f:convertDateTime> 9–14
Syntax 9–14
Contents xvi
Body Content 9–14
Attributes 9–15
Constraints 9–16
Description 9–16
9.4.4 <f:convertNumber> 9–18
Syntax 9–18
Body Content 9–18
Attributes 9–19
Constraints 9–19
Description 9–20
9.4.5 <f:converter> 9–21
Syntax 9–21
Body Content 9–21
Attributes 9–21
Constraints 9–21
Description 9–21
9.4.6 <f:facet> 9–22
Syntax 9–22
Body Content 9–22
Attributes 9–22
Constraints 9–22
Description 9–22
9.4.7 <f:loadBundle> 9–23
Syntax 9–23
Body Content 9–23
Attributes 9–23
Constraints 9–23
Description 9–23
9.4.8 <f:param> 9–24
Syntax 9–24
Body Content 9–24
Attributes 9–24
Constraints 9–24
Description 9–24
9.4.9 <f:phaseListener> 9–25
xvii JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

Syntax 9–25
Body Content 9–25
Attributes 9–25
Constraints 9–25
Description 9–25
9.4.10 <f:selectItem> 9–26
Syntax 9–26
Body Content 9–26
Attributes 9–27
Constraints 9–27
Description 9–27
9.4.11 <f:selectItems> 9–28
Syntax 9–28
Body Content 9–28
Attributes 9–28
Constraints 9–28
Description 9–28
9.4.12 <f:setPropertyActionListener> 9–29
Syntax 9–29
Body Content 9–29
Attributes 9–29
Constraints 9–29
Description 9–29
9.4.13 <f:subview> 9–31
Syntax 9–31
Body Content 9–31
Attributes 9–31
Constraints 9–31
Description 9–31
9.4.14 <f:validateDoubleRange> 9–34
Syntax 9–34
Body Content 9–34
Attributes 9–34
Constraints 9–34
Description 9–34
Contents xviii
9.4.15 <f:validateLength> 9–36
Syntax 9–36
Body Content 9–36
Attributes 9–36
Constraints 9–36
Description 9–36
9.4.16 <f:validateRegex> 9–38
Syntax 9–38
Body Content 9–38
Attributes 9–38
Constraints 9–38
Description 9–38
9.4.17 <f:validateLongRange> 9–39
Syntax 9–39
Body Content 9–39
Attributes 9–39
Constraints 9–39
Description 9–39
9.4.18 <f:validator> 9–41
Syntax 9–41
Body Content 9–41
Attributes 9–41
Constraints 9–41
Description 9–41
9.4.19 <f:valueChangeListener> 9–42
Syntax 9–42
Body Content 9–42
Attributes 9–42
Constraints 9–42
Description 9–42
9.4.20 <f:verbatim> 9–44
Syntax 9–44
Body Content 9–44
Attributes 9–44
Constraints 9–44
xix JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

Description 9–44
9.4.21 <f:view> 9–45
Syntax 9–45
Body Content 9–45
Attributes 9–45
Constraints 9–45
Description 9–46
9.5 Standard HTML RenderKit Tag Library 9–47
10. Facelets and its use in Web Applications 10–1

10.1 Non-normative Background 10–1
10.1.1 Differences between JSP and Facelets 10–1
10.1.2 Differences between Pre JSF 2.0 Facelets and Facelets in JSF 2.0 10–2
10.1.3 Resource Library Contracts Background 10–3
10.1.3.1 Non-normative Example 10–3
10.1.3.2 Non-normative Feature Overview 10–5
10.1.4 HTML5 Friendly Markup 10–6
10.1.4.1 Non-normative Feature Overview 10–7
10.2 Java Programming Language Specification for Facelets in JSF 2.0 10–8
10.2.1 Specification of the ViewDeclarationLanguage Implementation for Facelets for JSF 2.0 10–9
10.3 XHTML Specification for Facelets for JSF 2.0 10–10
10.3.1 General Requirements 10–10
10.3.1.1 DOCTYPE and XML Declaration 10–10
10.3.2 Facelet Tag Library mechanism 10–10
10.3.3 Requirements specific to composite components 10–12
10.3.3.1 Declaring a composite component library for use in a Facelet page 10–12
10.3.3.2 Creating an instance of a top level component 10–12
10.3.3.3 Populating a top level component instance with children 10–13
10.4 Standard Facelet Tag Libraries 10–14
10.4.1 JSF Core Tag Library 10–14
10.4.1.1 <f:ajax> 10–14
10.4.1.2 <f:event> 10–18
10.4.1.3 <f:metadata> 10–18
10.4.1.4 <f:validateBean> 10–18
10.4.1.5 <f:validateRequired> 10–20
10.4.1.6 <f:validateWholeBean> 10–21
Contents xx
10.4.1.7 <f:websocket> 10–22
10.4.2 Standard HTML RenderKit Tag Library 10–31
10.4.3 Facelet Templating Tag Library 10–32
10.4.4 Composite Component Tag Library 10–32
10.4.5 JSTL Core and Function Tag Libraries 10–32
10.5 Assertions relating to the construction of the view hierarchy 10–32
11. Using JSF in Web Applications 11–1

11.1 Web Application Deployment Descriptor 11–1
11.1.1 Servlet Definition 11–1
11.1.2 Servlet Mapping 11–2
11.1.3 Application Configuration Parameters 11–2
11.2 Included Classes and Resources 11–5
11.2.1 Application-Specific Classes and Resources 11–6
11.2.2 Servlet and JSP API Classes (javax.servlet.*) 11–6
11.2.3 JSP Standard Tag Library (JSTL) API Classes (javax.servlet.jsp.jstl.*) 11–6
11.2.4 JSP Standard Tag Library (JSTL) Implementation Classes 11–6
11.2.5 JavaServer Faces API Classes (javax.faces.*) 11–6
11.2.6 JavaServer Faces Implementation Classes 11–6
11.2.6.1 FactoryFinder 11–6
11.2.6.2 FacesServlet 11–7
11.2.6.3 UIComponentELTag 11–8
11.2.6.4 FacetTag 11–8
11.2.6.5 ValidatorTag 11–8
11.3 Deprecated APIs in the webapp package 11–9
11.3.1 AttributeTag 11–9
11.3.2 ConverterTag 11–9
11.3.3 UIComponentBodyTag 11–9
11.3.4 UIComponentTag 11–9
11.3.5 ValidatorTag 11–9
11.4 Application Configuration Resources 11–9
11.4.2 Application Startup Behavior 11–10
11.4.2.1 Resource Library Contracts 11–11
11.4.3 Faces Flows 11–12
11.4.3.1 Defining Flows 11–12
xxi JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

11.4.3.2 Packaging Faces Flows in JAR Files 11–12
11.4.3.3 Packaging Flows in Directories 11–12
11.4.4 Application Shutdown Behavior 11–13
11.4.5 Application Configuration Resource Format 11–13
11.4.6 Configuration Impact on JSF Runtime 11–15
11.4.7 Delegating Implementation Support 11–17
11.4.8 Ordering of Artifacts 11–19
11.4.9 Example Application Configuration Resource 11–24
11.5 Annotations that correspond to and may take the place of entries in the Application Configuration
Resources 11–25
11.5.1 Requirements for scanning of classes for annotations 11–25
12. Lifecycle Management 12–1

12.1 Lifecycle 12–1
12.2 PhaseEvent 12–2
12.3 PhaseListener 12–2
12.4 LifecycleFactory 12–5
13. Ajax Integration 13–1

13.1 JavaScript Resource 13–1
13.1.1 JavaScript Resource Loading 13–1
13.1.1.1 The Annotation Approach 13–1
13.1.1.2 The Resource API Approach 13–2
13.1.1.3 The Page D eclaration Language Approach 13–3
13.2 JavaScript Namespacing 13–3
13.3 Ajax Interaction 13–3
13.3.1 Sending an Ajax Request 13–4
13.3.2 Ajax Request Queueing 13–4
13.3.3 Request Callback Function 13–4
13.3.4 Receiving The Ajax Response 13–4
13.3.5 Monitoring Events On The Client 13–4
13.3.5.1 Monitoring Events For An Ajax Request 13–5
13.3.5.2 Monitoring Events For All Ajax Requests 13–5
13.3.5.3 Sending Events 13–5
13.3.6 Handling Errors On the Client 13–5
13.3.6.1 Handling Errors For An Ajax Request 13–5
13.3.6.2 Handling Errors For All Ajax Requests 13–6
Contents xxii
13.3.6.3 Signaling Errors 13–6
13.3.7 Handling Errors On The Server 13–6
13.4 Partial View Traversal 13–6
13.4.1 Partial Traversal Strategy 13–7
13.4.2 Partial View Processing 13–7
13.4.3 Partial View Rendering 13–8
13.4.4 Sending The Response to The Client 13–8
13.4.4.1 Writing The Partial Response 13–8
14. JavaScript API 14–1

14.1 Collecting and Encoding View State 14–1
14.1.1 Use Case 14–1
14.2 Initiating an Ajax Request 14–2
14.2.1 Usage 14–2
14.2.2 Keywords 14–3
14.2.3 Default Values 14–3
14.2.4 Request Sending Specifics 14–3
14.2.5 Use Case 14–4
14.3 Processing The Ajax Response 14–4
14.4 Registering Callback Functions 14–4
14.4.1 Request/Response Event Handling 14–5
14.4.1.1 Use Case 14–5
14.4.2 Error Handling 14–6
14.4.2.1 Use Case 14–6
14.5 Determining An Application’s Project Stage 14–7
14.5.1 Use Case 14–7
14.6 Script Chaining 14–7
15. Appendix A - JSF Metadata A–1

1.1 Required Handling of *-extension elements in the application configuration resources files A–1
1.1.1 faces-config-extension handling A–1
1.1.1.1 The facelets-processing element A–2
1.2 XML Schema Definition For Facelet Taglib A–3
1.2.1 Deprecated DTD for Facelet Taglibraries Used by Versions of Facelets Prior to JSF 2.0 A–4
1.3 XML Schema Definition for Composite Components A–4
16. Appendix B - Change Log B–11
xxiii JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

Lifecycle 13
Facelets/VDL 14
Resources 16
Expression Language 17
Miscellaneous 17
Lifecycle 21
Facelets/VDL 23
Resources 25
Expression Language 26
Miscellaneous 26
Changes between 2.0 Rev a and 2.1 29
Section 10.3.2 “Facelet Tag Library mechanism” 29
New feature: <facelets-processing> 29
Update schema for 2.1 29
Change Restore View Phase 29
Section 7.6.2 “Default ViewHandler Implementation” 29
2.1 Changes between 2.0 Final and 2.0 Rev a B–30
Contents xxiv
Global changes 30
ExceptionQueuedEvent 30
Usage of the term "page" in the JSF 2.0 spec 30
Front Matter 31
Chapter 2 31
Section 2.2.1 “Restore View” 31
Section 2.5.2.4 “Localized Application Messages” 31
Section 2.5.7 “JSR 303 Bean Validation” 31
Section 2.5.7 “JSR 303 Bean Validation”needs to reference "Bean Validation Integration" section
31
Section 2.6.1.3 “Resource Identifiers” 31
Chapter 3 31
Clarify meaning of "javax.faces.bean" in Section 3.5.6.1 “Bean Validator Activation” 31
Need to be consistent between Section 3.4.3.4 “Declarative Listener Registration”of the JSF 2.0 Spec
and the VDLDoc for f:event 32
Typo in Section 3.4.3.4 “Declarative Listener Registration” of the JSF 2.0 Spec regarding
"beforeRender" 32
Section 3.5.3 “Validation Registration”, Section 3.6.1.1 “What does it mean to be a JSF User
Interface component?” 32
Section 3.6.2.1 “Composite Component Metadata” 32
Chapter 4 32
Section 4.1.19.4 “Events” 32
Chapter 7 33
Section 7.4.1 “Overview” 33
Section 7.4.2 “Default NavigationHandler Algorithm” 33
Chapter 9 33
Section 9.4.1 “<f:actionListener>” of Spec PDF -- Missing "for" attribute of f:actionListener in Spec
PDF 33
Section 9.4.1 “<f:actionListener>” and Section 9.4.19 “<f:valueChangeListener>” 33
Chapter 10 33
Section 10.3.1 “General Requirements” 34
Section 10.3.2 “Facelet Tag Library mechanism” 34
VDLDocs and PDL documentation 34
Possible error in section Section 10.4.1.1 “<f:ajax>” of the JSF 2.0 Spec regarding f:ajax and
h:panelGrid 34
Redundant mentioning of Facelets in Section 10.4.1.4 “<f:validateBean>” of the JSF 2.0 Spec 35
xxv JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

Availability of f:validateBean and f:validateRequired in JSP 35
Chapter 13 35
Redundancy in Section 13.4.2 “Partial View Processing” of the JSF 2.0 Spec 35
"Execute portions" of the JSF request processing lifecycle in the JSF 2.0 Spec 35
Chapter 14 35
Section 14.2 “Initiating an Ajax Request” Typo in table 14.2.2 of the JSF 2.0 Spec 35
Section 14.4.1 “Request/Response Event Handling”Table 14.4.1 36
Appendix A Metadata 36
Section 1.2.1 “Deprecated DTD for Facelet Taglibraries Used by Versions of Facelets Prior to JSF
2.0” 36
VDLDoc changes 36
Typo in f:selectItems VDLDocs 36
Need clarification on execute attribute of f:ajax 36
Spelling error in VDLDocs for f:ajax 36
Need clarification on required attribute in VDLDocs for tags that got a new "for" attribute in JSF
2.0 37
Uppercase typo in VDLDocs for f:event 37
Need to change "JSP" to "Facelets" in "Body Content" of VDLDocs 37
Need clarification in VDLDocs for f:metadata 37
Missing description in VDLDocs for name attribute of f:viewParam 37
VLDDocs on "for" attribute of f:viewParam claim it can be used in a CC 37
Miscellaneous VDLDoc items 38
Should TLDDocs now be VDLDocs? 38
Typo in VDLDocs for f:event. 38
Accepted Changes from JCP Change Log for JSF 2.0 Rev a 38
2.2 Changes between 1.2 Final and 2.0 Final B–45
Section 2.1 “Request Processing Lifecycle Scenarios” 45
Section 2.2 “Standard Request Processing Lifecycle Phases” 45
Section 2.2.2 “Apply Request Values” 46
Section 2.2.2.1 “Apply Request Values Partial Processing” 46
Section 2.2.3 “Process Validations” 46
Section 2.2.3.1 “Partial Validations Partial Processing” 46
Section 2.2.4 “Update Model Values” 46
Section 2.2.4.1 “Update Model Values Partial Processing” 46
Section 2.2.6 “Render Response” 46
Contents xxvi
Section 2.5.4 “Resource Handling” 47
Section 2.5.5 “View Parameters” 47
Section 2.5.6 “Bookmarkability” 47
Section 2.5.7 “JSR 303 Bean Validation” 47
Section 2.5.8 “Ajax” 47
Section 2.5.9 “Component Behaviors” 47
New Section 2.6 “Resource Handling” 47
New Section 2.6.2 “Rendering Resources” 47
New Section 2.6.2.1 “Relocatable Resources” 48
New Section 2.6.2.2 “Resource Rendering Using Annotations” 48
Section 3.1.8 “Component Tree Navigation” 48
Section 3.1.10 “Managing Component Behavior” 48
Section 3.1.11 “Generic Attributes” 48
Section 3.1.11.1 “Special Attributes” 48
Section 3.1.13 “Component Specialization Methods” 48
Section 3.1.14 “Lifecycle Management Methods” 48
Section 3.1.15 “Utility Methods” 48
Section 3.2.6.1 “Properties” 49
Section 3.2.7.2 “Methods” 49
Section 3.2.8 “SystemEventListenerHolder” 49
Section 3.3.2 “Converter” 49
Section 3.4.2.6 “Event Broadcasting” 49
Section 3.4.3.1 “Event Classes” 49
Section 3.4.3.4 “Declarative Listener Registration” 49
Section 3.4.3.5 “Listener Registration By Annotation” 49
Section 3.5.2 “Validator Classes” 50
Section 3.5.3 “Validation Registration” 50
Section 3.5.5 “Standard Validator Implementations” 50
Section 3.5.6 “Bean Validation Integration” 50
Section 3.7 “Component Behavior Model” 50
Section 4.1.19.2 “Properties” 50
xxvii JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

Specify the viewMap property on UIViewRoot. 50
Section 4.1.19.4 “Events” 50
Section 4.1.19.5 “Partial Processing” 51
Section 3.6 “Composite User Interface Components” 51
Section 5.2.1 “MethodExpression Syntax and Semantics” 51
Section 5.4.2 “Managed Bean Lifecycle Annotations” 51
Section 5.6.1.1 “Faces Implicit Object ELResolver For JSP” and Section 5.6.2.1 “Implicit Object ELResolver
for Facelets and Programmatic Access” 51
Section 5.6.1.2 “ManagedBean ELResolver” 51
Section 5.6.2.1 “Implicit Object ELResolver for Facelets and Programmatic Access” 51
Section 5.6.2.5 “Resource ELResolver” 52
This section specifies the behavior of the Resource EL Resolver 52
Section 5.6.2.2 “Composite Component Attributes ELResolver” 52
Section 5.6.2.9 “ScopedAttribute ELResolver” 52
Section 6.1.2 “Attributes” 52
Section 6.1.8 “ResponseStream and ResponseWriter” 52
Section 6.1.10 “Partial Processing Methods” 52
Section 6.1.11 “Partial View Context” 52
Section 6.1.12 “Access To The Current FacesContext Instance” 52
Section 6.1.13 “CurrentPhaseId” 52
Section 6.2 “ExceptionHandler” 52
Section 6.7 “ExceptionHandlerFactory” 53
Section 6.8 “ExternalContextFactory” 53
Section 7.1.9 “ProjectStage Property” 53
Section 7.1.14 “System Event Methods” 53
Section 7.4.2 “Default NavigationHandler Algorithm” 53
Section 7.7 “ViewDeclarationLanguage” 53
Section 8.1 “RenderKit” 54
Section 8.2 “Renderer” 54
Section 8.3 “ClientBehaviorRenderer” 54
Section 9.4.3 “<f:convertDateTime>” 54
Section 9.4.4 “<f:convertNumber>” 54
Contents xxviii
Section 9.4.14 “<f:validateDoubleRange>” 54
Section 9.4.16 “<f:validateRegex>” 54
Section 9.4.17 “<f:validateLongRange>” 54
Section 9.4.21 “<f:view>” 54
Section “Facelets and its use in Web Applications” 54
Section 10.4.1.1 “<f:ajax>” 55
Section “Override default Ajax action. “button1” is associated with the Ajax “execute=’cancel’” action:”
55
Section 10.4.1.5 “<f:validateRequired>” 55
Section 11.1.3 “Application Configuration Parameters” 55
Section 11.4.2 “Application Startup Behavior” 55
Section 11.4.6 “Configuration Impact on JSF Runtime” 55
Section 11.4.7 “Delegating Implementation Support” 56
Section 11.4.8 “Ordering of Artifacts” 56
Section 11.5 “Annotations that correspond to and may take the place of entries in the Application
Configuration Resources” 56
Section 12.2 “PhaseEvent” 56
Chapter 13 “Ajax Integration 56
Section 13.1 “JavaScript Resource” 56
Section 13.1.1 “JavaScript Resource Loading” 56
Section 13.1.1.1 “The Annotation Approach” 56
Section 13.1.1.2 “The Resource API Approach” 56
Section 13.1.1.3 “The Page D eclaration Language Approach” 57
Section 13.2 “JavaScript Namespacing” 57
Section 13.3 “Ajax Interaction” 57
Section 13.3.1 “Sending an Ajax Request” 57
Section 13.3.2 “Ajax Request Queueing” 57
Section 13.3.3 “Request Callback Function” 57
Section 13.3.4 “Receiving The Ajax Response” 57
Section 13.3.5 “Monitoring Events On The Client” 57
Section 13.3.5.1 “Monitoring Events For An Ajax Request” 57
Section 13.3.5.2 “Monitoring Events For All Ajax Requests” 58
Section 13.3.5.3 “Sending Events” 58
Section 13.3.6 “Handling Errors On the Client” 58
Section 13.3.6.1 “Handling Errors For An Ajax Request” 58
Section 13.3.6.2 “Handling Errors For All Ajax Requests” 58
xxix JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

Section 13.3.6.3 “Signaling Errors” 58
Section 13.3.7 “Handling Errors On The Server” 58
Section 13.4 “Partial View Traversal” 58
Section 13.4.1 “Partial Traversal Strategy” 58
Section 13.4.2 “Partial View Processing” 59
Section 13.4.3 “Partial View Rendering” 59
Section 13.4.4 “Sending The Response to The Client” 59
Section 13.4.4.1 “Writing The Partial Response” 59
Chapter 14 “JavaScript API 59
Section 14.1 “Collecting and Encoding View State” 59
Section 14.1.1 “Use Case” 59
Section 14.2 “Initiating an Ajax Request” 59
Section 14.2.1 “Usage” 59
Section 14.2.3 “Default Values” 59
Section 14.2.4 “Request Sending Specifics” 60
Section 14.5 “Determining An Application’s Project Stage” 60
Section 14.4 “Registering Callback Functions” 60
Section 14.4.1 “Request/Response Event Handling” 60
Section 14.4.1.1 “Use Case” 60
Section 14.4.2 “Error Handling” 60
Section 14.4.2.1 “Use Case” 60
Section 14.5 “Determining An Application’s Project Stage” 60
Section 14.6 “Script Chaining” 61
Javadoc XML Schema section 61
Section 1.3 “XML Schema Definition for Composite Components” 61
Standard HTML RenderKit specification 61
component-family: javax.faces.Graphic renderer-type: javax.faces.Image 61
component-family: javax.faces.Output renderer-type: javax.faces.Body 61
component-family: javax.faces.Output renderer-type: javax.faces.Head 61
component-family: javax.faces.Output renderer-type: javax.faces.resource.Script 61
component-family: javax.faces.Output renderer-type: javax.faces.resource.Stylesheet 61
General Changes 61
2.3 Changes Between 1.1 and 1.2 B–62
Contents xxx
Unified Expression Language (EL) 62
2.3.0.1 Guide to Deprecated Methods Relating to the Unified EL and their Corresponding
Replacements B–62
Guide to Deprecated Methods Relating to State Management and their Corresponding
Replacements 65
JavaServer Faces 1.2 Backwards Compatibility 65
Breakages in Backwards Compatability 66
General changes 66
Preface 69
Section 2.2.6 “Render Response” 69
Section 2.4.2.1 “Create A New View” 69
Section 3.1.11 “Generic Attributes” 70
Section 3.1.13 “Component Specialization Methods” 70
Add new method, encodeAll(), which is now the preferred method for developers to call to render a
child or facet(). 70
Section 4.1.4 “UIForm” 70
UIData Section 4.1.3.2 “Properties” 70
UIInput Section 4.1.6 “UIInput” 70
UIInput Section 4.1.6.3 “Methods” 70
Section 4.1.19 “UIViewRoot” 70
Section 5.1.2 and 5.1.3 “ValueExpression Syntax” and “ValueExpression Semantics” 70
Section 5.2.1 “MethodExpression Syntax and Semantics” 70
Section 5.4 “Managed Bean Annotations” 71
Section 5.5.3 “ExpressionFactory” 71
Section 5.6.1.4 “ResourceBundle ELResolver for JSP Pages” 71
Section 7.6.1 “Overview” ViewHandler 71
State Saving Section 7.8.1 “Overview” 71
Section 7.8.2 “State Saving Alternatives and Implications” 71
Section 8.4 “ResponseStateManager” 72
Section 9.1 “UIComponent Custom Actions” 72
Section 9.2.8 “Interoperability with JSP Template Text and Other Tag Libraries” 72
Section “Integration with JSP” 72
Section 9.3.1.2 “Faces 1.0 and 1.1 Taglib migration story” 72
xxxi JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

Section 9.4 “JSF Core Tag Library” 72
Section 9.4.2 “<f:attribute>” 72
Section 9.4.12 “<f:setPropertyActionListener>” 73
Section 9.4.21 “<f:view>” 73
Section 9.5 “Standard HTML RenderKit Tag Library” 73
Section 11.2.6.2 “FacesServlet” 73
Section 11.3 “Deprecated APIs in the webapp package” 73
Section 11.4.2 “Application Startup Behavior” 73
Contents xxxii
xxxiii JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017
Preface
This is the JavaServer Faces 2.3 (JSF 2.3) specification, developed by the JSR-372 expert group under the Java
Community Process (see <http://www.jcp.org> for more information about the JCP).
Changes between 2.2 and 2.3

This section gives the reader a survey of the changes between this version of the specification and the previous version,
using the categories from the issue tracker at < http://jsf-spec.java.net/issues/ >.
Big Ticket Features

WebSocket Integration
Issue ID 1396
See the VDLDocs for <f:websocket /> and Section 10.4.1.7 “<f:websocket>”.
Multi-field Validation
Issue ID 1
See the VDLDocs for <f:validateWholeBean />.
Java Time Support
Issue ID 1370
See the VDLDocs for <f:convertDateTime />.
Use CDI for evaluation of JSF specific EL implicit Objects
Issue ID 1311,1322,1325,1327,1328,1334,1332,1331,1328,1384,1385,1383,1386 - 1394
See Section 5.9.2 “EL Resolution”
Issue ID 1417
Deprecate javax.faces.bean.
Support @Inject on JSF specific artifacts
Issue ID 1316,527,1309,1323,1283,1353,1335,1333,1323,1349,1351,1350,1345
See Section 5.9.1 “JSF Objects Valid for @Inject Injection”
Preface 1
UIData and <ui:repeat> supports Map and Iterable
Issue ID 1102
ui:repeat condition check.
Issue ID 1418
CDI Replacement for @ManagedProperty. See javadocs for javax.faces.annotation.ManagedProperty.
Issue ID 1103, 1364
See the Javadoc for javax.faces.component.UIData, and javax.faces.model.IterableDataModel.
DataModel implementations can be registered
Issue ID 1078
See the javadoc for annotation javax.faces.model.FacesDataModel.
Issue ID 1412
See the javadoc for annotation javax.faces.partialViewContext.getEvalScripts().
Issue ID 613
Ajax Method Invocation. See vdldoc for <h:commandScript>.
Issue ID 1238
Enhanced component search facility. See the javadoc for package javax.faces.component.search.
Other Features, by Functional Area
Components/Renderers
Larger Changes
Issue ID 217
styleClass attribute added to h:column
Issue ID 329
Add “group” attribute to <h:selectOneRadio>.
Issue ID 1423,1404
ResourceHandler.markResourceRendered(), and isResourceRendered(), UIViewRoot.getComponentResources() enable

the discovery of dynamically added resources, even within Ajax requests.
Issue ID 1404
Add API to check if a resource has already been rendered. See Javadoc for
javax.faces.application.ResourceHandler.markResourceRendered() and
isResourceRendered().
Issue ID 1436
In Section 2.2.6 “Render Response”, specify how Server Push is utilized.
2 JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

Smaller Changes
Issue ID 1422
UISelectMany detects converter based on first item.
Issue ID 1007
Explicit support for dynamic component manipulation
Issue ID 819
Add “disabled” attribute for h:button
Issue ID 1300
UIViewRoot.getViewMap() and publishEvent().
Issue ID 1229
Document UIData.setRowStatePreserved() in VDLDoc and RenderKit Doc.
Issue ID 1135
Add PostRenderViewEvent.
Issue ID 1258
Clarify text escaping for <h:outputText> or equivalent EL expressions.
Issue ID 807
Pass FacesContext to system event listeners.
Issue ID 1113
Remove onselect attribute from SELECT components.
Issue ID 1433
Add a context-param to enable forcing validation to happen even when there is no parameter corresponding to the
current component.
Lifecycle
Larger Changes
Issue ID 790
javax.faces.ViewState and ajax with cross form submit.
Smaller Changes
Issue ID 473
FacesEvent.getFacesContext().
Issue ID 1241
faces-config supports client-window-factory.
Issue ID 1346
Preface 3
Simplify decoration of FaceletCacheFactory.
Issue ID 1361
Correct oversight regarding re-entrancy of flow scoped beans.
Issue ID 821
Implement ExternalContext.getRealPath() on startup and shutdown.
Issue ID 1401
Explicitly prohibit using NavigationHandler from within ExceptionHandler invoked during RENDER
RESPONSE.
Issue ID 1306
@FlowScoped should be @NormalScope(passivating=true).
Issue ID 1382
Generify return from ExternalContext.getInitParameterMap().
Issue ID 1329
@NotNull and <f:viewParam>.
Issue ID 1403
Allow entry into flow via <f:viewAction>.
Issue ID 1216
Improve consistency in handling PhaseListener instances registered on UIViewRoot components.
Issue ID 1435
Add ResourceHandler.getViewResources() method.
Platform Integration
Issue ID 1379
ExternalContext.getResponseCharacterEncoding() and Portlet 3.0.
Facelets/VDL
Larger Changes
Issue ID 1424
Add tag <f:importConstants>, see VDLDoc for that tag.
Smaller Changes
Issue ID 1362
Revisit some cardinality rules regarding <tag> and <component> elements.
Issue ID 936

Set FACELETS_REFRESH_PERIOD to -1 if ProjectStage is Production.
Spec Clarifications
Issue ID 1254
Loosen language regarding the contracts attribute on <f:view>.
Issue ID 1338
Clarify pseudocode for resource libraries.
Issue ID 1279
Specify UIInput.isEmpty()
Issue ID 1242
Remove mentione of OpenAjax hub.
Issue ID 1215
Additional warning on DelegatingMetaTagHandler.getTagHandlerDelegate.
Issue ID 1131
“name” attribute not required.
Issue ID 1270
TagDecorator spec namespace modifications.
Issue ID 1401
Advisory text for ExceptionHandler.
Issue ID 1402
Explicitly declare that flow eagerness not supported.
Issue ID 677
Document automatic UIPanel behavior for f:facet.
Issue ID 1095
Description for “rendered” attribute for repeat and fragment.
Issue ID 1066
Application.getNavigationHandler() and application element.
Issue ID 803
VisitHint.EXECUTE_LIFECYCLE clarifications.
Issue ID 1217
EnumConverter.getAsString() clarifications.
Issue ID 1356
UIInput.processValidators() clarifications.
Issue ID 1424
Preface 5
Public constants for source, behavior, and partial.event. See the Javadocs for
javax.faces.component.behavior.ClientBehaviorContext, and
javax.faces.conetxt.PartialViewContext.
Issue ID 1428
API constants for jsf.js and javax.faces in JavaScript.
Issue ID 1260
Support for exact mapping of FacesServlet. See Section 7.6.2.1 “ViewHandler Methods that Derive Information From
the Incoming Request” and Section 7.6.2.3 “ViewHandler Methods Relating to Navigation”.
Issue ID 1250
Fix entries in table Section TABLE 5-3 “JSF Artifacts Eligible for Injection”.
Resources
Larger Changes
Smaller Changes
Expression Language.
Configuration and Bootstrapping
Miscellaneous
Issue ID 1225
Clarify requirements to support BCP-47 regarding localization. See Section 2.5.2.1 “Determining the active Locale”
Issue ID 1429
Add constructor to make wrapping easier.
Issue ID 1430
Leverage Java SE 8 repeatable annotations where appropriate.
Backward Compatibility with Previous Versions

JSF 2.3 is fully backward compatible with previous releases of JSF, unless any of the following context-parameter values
are specified. See Section 11.1.3 “Application Configuration Parameters” for details.
javax.faces.ALWAYS_PERFORM_VALIDATION_WHEN_REQUIRED_IS_TRUE
javax.faces.DISABLE_FACESSERVLET_TO_XHTML
javax.faces.VIEWROOT_PHASE_LISTENER_QUEUES_EXCEPTIONS.

JSF 2.3 is fully backward compatible with previous releases of JSF unless a CDI managed bean is included in the
application with the annotation @javax.faces.annotation.FacesConfig. See the javadocs for that annotation
for details.
Breakages in Backward Compatibility
Related Technologies
Other Java™ Platform Specifications

JSF is based on the following Java API specifications:
? JavaServer Pages™ Specification, version 2.2 (JSP™), including Expression Language 2.2
<http://jcp.org/aboutJava/communityprocess/mrel/jsr245/>
? Expression Language 3.0 <http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=341> (optional)
? Java™ Servlet Specification, version 4.0 (Servlet) <http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=369>
? Java™ Platform, Enterprise Edition, version 8.0 <http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=366>
? Contexts and Dependency Injection for Java 2.0 <http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=365>
? Java™ Platform, Standard Edition, version 8.0 <http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=337>
? JavaBeans™ Specification, version 1.0.1 <http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/documentation/spec-
136004.html>
? JavaServer Pages™ Standard Tag Library, version 1.2 (JSTL) <http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=52>
? Java™ API for WebSocket, version 1.1 <https://www.jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=356>
? Java™ API for JSON-Processing, version 1.1 <https://www.jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=353>
Therefore, a JSF container must support all of the above specifications. This requirement allows faces applications to be
portable across a variety of JSF implementations.
In addition, JSF is designed to work synergistically with other web-related Java APIs, including:
? Portlet Specification, 1.0 JSR-168 <http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=168>
? JSF Portlet Bridge Specification, JSR-301 <http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=301>
Related Documents and Specifications

The following documents and specifications of the World Wide Web Consortium will be of interest to JSF implementors,
as well as developers of applications and components based on JavaServer Faces.
? Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), version 4.01 <http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/>
? Extensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML), version 1.0 <http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1>
? Extensible Markup Language (XML), version 1.0 (Second Edition) <http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml>
The class and method Javadoc documentation for the classes and interfaces in javax.faces (and its subpackages) are
incorporated by reference as requirements of this Specification.
The JSP and Facelet tag library for the HTML_BASIC standard RenderKit is specified in the VDLDocs and incorporated
by reference in this Specification.
Preface 7
Terminology
The key words MUST, MUST NOT, REQUIRED, SHALL, SHALL NOT, SHOULD, SHOULD NOT,
RECOMMENDED, MAY, and OPTIONAL in this document are to be interpreted as described in
? Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels (RFC 2119) <http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt>
Providing Feedback
We welcome any and all feedback about this specification. Please email your comments to <users@javaserverfaces-spec-
public.java.net>.
Please note that, due to the volume of feedback that we receive, you will not normally receive a reply from an engineer.
However, each and every comment is read, evaluated, and archived by the specification team.
Acknowledgements
The JavaServer Faces Specification (version 2.3) is the result of the diligent efforts of the JSR-372 Expert Group,
working under the auspices of the Java Community Process. The Expert Group is
? Frank Caputo
? Cagatay Civici
? Ken Fyten
? Neil Griffin
? Josh Juneau
? Brian Leatham
? Kito Mann
? Michael Müller
? Paul Nicolucci
? Bauke Scholtz
? Arjan Tijms
? Leonardo Uribe
The editors would like to recognize the following individuals who have contributed to the success of JavaServer Faces
over the years.
Dan Allen Thomas Andraschko

Thomas Asel Jennifer Ball
Lincoln Baxter III Hans Bergsten
Shawn Bayern Joseph Berkovitz
Dennis Byrne Pete Carapetyan
Ryan DeLaplante Keith Donald
Jim Driscoll Hanspeter Duennenberger
Ken Finnigan Amy Fowler
Mike Freedman David Geary
Manfred Geiler Ted Goddard
Juan Gonzalez Jeremy Grelle
Rick Hightower Jacob Hookom
Justyna Horwat Alexander Jesse

Max Katz Roger Keays
Gavin King Roger Kitain
Eric Lazarus Jason Lee
Felipe Leme Cody Lerum
Alberto Lemos Ryan Lubke
Barbara Louis Martin Marinschek
Kumar Mettu Craig McClanahan
Pete Muir Bernd Müller
Michael Müller Hans Muller
Brendan Murray Michael Nash
Imre Osswald Joe Ottinger
Ken Paulsen Dhiru Pandey
Raj Premkumar Werner Punz
Matt Raible Hazem Saleh
Andy Schwartz Yara Senger
Stan Silvert Vernon Singleton
Bernhard Slominski Alexander Smirnov
Thomas Spiegel Kyle Stiemann
James Strachan Jayashri Visvanathan
Ana von Klopp Matthias Wessendorf
Adam Winer Mike Youngstrom
John Zukowski
Preface 9
1
Overview
JavaServer Faces (JSF) is a user interface (UI) framework for Java web applications. It is designed to significantly ease
the burden of writing and maintaining applications that run on a Java application server and render their UIs back to a
target client. JSF provides ease-of-use in the following ways:
? Makes it easy to construct a UI from a set of reusable UI components
? Simplifies migration of application data to and from the UI
? Helps manage UI state across server requests
? Provides a simple model for wiring client-generated events to server-side application code
? Allows custom UI components to be easily built and re-used
Most importantly, JSF establishes standards which are designed to be leveraged by tools to provide a developer
experience which is accessible to a wide variety of developer types, ranging from corporate developers to systems
programmers. A “corporate developer” is characterized as an individual who is proficient in writing procedural code and
business logic, but is not necessarily skilled in object-oriented programming. A “systems programmer” understands
object-oriented fundamentals, including abstraction and designing for re-use. A corporate developer typically relies on
tools for development, while a system programmer may define his or her tool as a text editor for writing code.
Therefore, JSF is designed to be tooled, but also exposes the framework and programming model as APIs so that it can
be used outside of tools, as is sometimes required by systems programmers.
1.1 Solving Practical Problems of the Web

JSF’s core architecture is designed to be independent of specific protocols and markup. However it is also aimed directly
at solving many of the common problems encountered when writing applications for HTML clients that communicate via
HTTP to a Java application server that supports servlets and JavaServer Pages (JSP) based applications. These
applications are typically form-based, and are comprised of one or more HTML pages with which the user interacts to
complete a task or set of tasks. JSF tackles the following challenges associated with these applications:
? Managing UI component state across requests
? Supporting encapsulation of the differences in markup across different browsers and clients
? Supporting form processing (multi-page, more than one per page, and so on)
? Providing a strongly typed event model that allows the application to write server-side handlers (independent of
HTTP) for client generated events
? Validating request data and providing appropriate error reporting
? Enabling type conversion when migrating markup values (Strings) to and from application data objects (which are
often not Strings)
? Handling error and exceptions, and reporting errors in human-readable form back to the application user
? Handling page-to-page navigation in response to UI events and model interactions.
Chapter 1 Overview 1-11

1.2 Specification Audience
The JavaServer Faces Specification, and the technology that it defines, is addressed to several audiences that will use
this information in different ways. The following sections describe these audiences, the roles that they play with respect
to JSF, and how they will use the information contained in this document. As is the case with many technologies, the
same person may play more than one of these roles in a particular development scenario; however, it is still useful to
understand the individual viewpoints separately.
1.2.1 Page Authors

A page author is primarily responsible for creating the user interface of a web application. He or she must be familiar
with the markup and scripting languages (such as HTML and JavaScript) that are understood by the target client devices,
as well as the rendering technology (such as JavaServer Pages) used to create dynamic content. Page authors are often
focused on graphical design and human factors engineering, and are generally not familiar with programming languages
such as Java or Visual Basic (although many page authors will have a basic understanding of client side scripting
languages such as JavaScript).
Page authors will generally assemble the content of the pages being created from libraries of prebuilt user interface
components that are provided by component writers, tool providers, and JSF implementors. The components themselves
will be represented as configurable objects that utilize the dynamic markup capabilities of the underlying rendering
technology. When JavaServer Pages are in use, for example, components will be represented as JSP custom actions,
which will support configuring the attributes of those components as custom action attributes in the JSP page. In
addition, the pages produced by a page author will be used by the JSF framework to create component tree hierarchies,
called “views”, that represent the components on those pages.
Page authors will generally utilize development tools, such as HTML editors, that allow them to deal directly with the
visual representation of the page being created. However, it is still feasible for a page author that is familiar with the
underlying rendering technology to construct pages “by hand” using a text editor.
1.2.2 Component Writers

Component writers are responsible for creating libraries of reusable user interface objects. Such components support the
following functionality:
? Convert the internal representation of the component’s properties and attributes into the appropriate markup language
for pages being rendered (encoding).
? Convert the properties of an incoming request—parameters, headers, and cookies—into the corresponding properties
and attributes of the component (decoding)
? Utilize request-time events to initiate visual changes in one or more components, followed by redisplay of the current
page.
? Support validation checks on the syntax and semantics of the representation of this component on an incoming
request, as well as conversion into the internal form that is appropriate for this component.
? Saving and restoring component state across requests
As will be discussed in Chapter 8 “Rendering Model,” the encoding and decoding functionality may optionally be
delegated to one or more Render Kits, which are responsible for customizing these operations to the precise requirements
of the client that is initiating a particular request (for example, adapting to the differences between JavaScript handling
in different browsers, or variations in the WML markup supported by different wireless clients).
The component writer role is sometimes separate from other JSF roles, but is often combined. For example, reusable
components, component libraries, and render kits might be created by:
? A page author creating a custom “widget” for use on a particular page
1-12 JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

? An application developer providing components that correspond to specific data objects in the application’s business
domain
? A specialized team within a larger development group responsible for creating standardized components for reuse
across applications
? Third party library and framework providers creating component libraries that are portable across JSF
implementations
? Tool providers whose tools can leverage the specific capabilities of those libraries in development of JSF-based
applications
? JSF implementors who provide implementation-specific component libraries as part of their JSF product suite
Within JSF, user interface components are represented as Java classes that follow the design patterns outlined in the
JavaBeans Specification. Therefore, new and existing tools that facilitate JavaBean development can be leveraged to
create new JSF components. In addition, the fundamental component APIs are simple enough for developers with basic
Java programming skills to program by hand.
1.2.3 Application Developers

Application Developers are responsible for providing the server-side functionality of a web application that is not
directly related to the user interface. This encompasses the following general areas of responsibility:
? Define mechanisms for persistent storage of the information required by JSF-based web applications (such as creating
schemas in a relational database management system)
? Create a Java object representation of the persistent information, such as Entity Enterprise JavaBeans (Entity EJBs),
and call the corresponding beans as necessary to perform persistence of the application’s data.
? Encapsulate the application’s functionality, or business logic, in Java objects that are reusable in web and non-web
applications, such as Session EJBs.
? Expose the data representation and functional logic objects for use via JSF, as would be done for any servlet- or JSP-
based application.
Only the latter responsibility is directly related to JavaServer Faces APIs. In particular, the following steps are required
to fulfill this responsibility:
? Expose the underlying data required by the user interface layer as objects that are accessible from the web tier (such
as via request or session attributes in the Servlet API), via value reference expressions, as described in Chapter 4
“Standard User Interface Components.”
? Provide application-level event handlers for the events that are enqueued by JSF components during the request
processing lifecycle, as described in Section 2.2.5 “Invoke Application”.
Application modules interact with JSF through standard APIs, and can therefore be created using new and existing tools
that facilitate general Java development. In addition, application modules can be written (either by hand, or by being
generated) in conformance to an application framework created by a tool provider.
1.2.4 Tool Providers

Tool providers, as their name implies, are responsible for creating tools that assist in the development of JSF-based
applications, rather than creating such applications directly. JSF APIs support the creation of a rich variety of
development tools, which can create applications that are portable across multiple JSF implementations. Examples of
possible tools include:
? GUI-oriented page development tools that assist page authors in creating the user interface for a web application
? IDEs that facilitate the creation of components (either for a particular page, or for a reusable component library)
? Page generators that work from a high level description of the desired user interface to create the corresponding page
and component objects
? IDEs that support the development of general web applications, adapted to provide specialized support (such as
configuration management) for JSF
? Web application frameworks (such as MVC-based and workflow management systems) that facilitate the use of JSF
components for user interface design, in conjunction with higher level navigation management and other services

? Application generators that convert high level descriptions of an entire application into the set of pages, UI
components, and application modules needed to provide the required application functionality
Tool providers will generally leverage the JSF APIs for introspection of the features of component libraries and render
kit frameworks, as well as the application portability implied by the use of standard APIs in the code generated for an
application.
1.2.5 JSF Implementors

Finally, JSF implementors will provide runtime environments that implement all of the requirements described in this
specification. Typically, a JSF implementor will be the provider of a Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE)
application server, although it is also possible to provide a JSF implementation that is portable across J2EE servers.
Advanced features of the JSF APIs allow JSF implementors, as well as application developers, to customize and extend
the basic functionality of JSF in a portable way. These features provide a rich environment for server vendors to compete
on features and quality of service aspects of their implementations, while maximizing the portability of JSF-based
applications across different JSF implementations.
1.3 Introduction to JSF APIs

This section briefly describes major functional subdivisions of the APIs defined by JavaServer Faces. Each subdivision
is described in its own chapter, later in this specification.
1.3.1 package javax.faces

This package contains top level classes for the JavaServer(tm) Faces API. The most important class in the package is
FactoryFinder, which is the mechanism by which users can override many of the key pieces of the implementation
with their own.
Please see Section 11.2.6.1 “FactoryFinder”.
1.3.2 package javax.faces.application

This package contains APIs that are used to link an application’s business logic objects to JavaServer Faces, as well as
convenient pluggable mechanisms to manage the execution of an application that is based on JavaServer Faces. The main
class in this package is Application.
Please see Section 7.1 “Application”.
1.3.3 package javax.faces.component

This package contains fundamental APIs for user interface components.
Please see Chapter 3 “User Interface Component Model.

1.3.4 package javax.faces.component.html
This package contains concrete base classes for each valid combination of component + renderer.
1.3.5 package javax.faces.context

This package contains classes and interfaces defining per-request state information. The main class in this package is
FacesContext, which is the access point for all per-request information, as well as the gateway to several other helper
classes.
Please see Section 6.1 “FacesContext”.
1.3.6 package javax.faces.convert

This package contains classes and interfaces defining converters. The main class in this package is Converter.
Please see Section 3.3 “Conversion Model”.
1.3.7 package javax.faces.el

As of version 1.2 of this specification, all classes and interfaces in this package have been deprecated in favor of the
Unified Expression Language (EL) from JSP 2.1.
Please see Chapter 5 “Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility.
1.3.8 package javax.faces.flow and javax.faces.flow.builder

The runtime API for Faces Flows.
Please see Section 7.5 “FlowHandler”.
1.3.9 package javax.faces.lifecycle

This package contains classes and interfaces defining lifecycle management for the JavaServer Faces implementation.
The main class in this package is Lifecycle. Lifecycle is the gateway to executing the request processing
lifecycle.
Please see Chapter 2 “Request Processing Lifecycle.
1.3.10 package javax.faces.event

This package contains interfaces describing events and event listeners, and concrete event implementation classes. All
component-level events extend from FacesEvent and all component-level listeners extend from FacesListener.
Please see Section 3.4 “Event and Listener Model”.

1.3.11 package javax.faces.render
This package contains classes and interfaces defining the rendering model. The main class in this package is
RenderKit. RenderKit maintains references to a collection of Renderer instances which provide rendering
capability for a specific client device type.
Please see Chapter 8 “Rendering Model.
1.3.12 package javax.faces.validator

Interface defining the validator model, and concrete validator implementation classes.
Please see Section 3.5 “Validation Model”
1.3.13 package javax.faces.webapp

Classes required for integration of JavaServer Faces into web applications, including a standard servlet, base classes for
JSP custom component tags, and concrete tag implementations for core tags.
Please see Chapter 11 “Using JSF in Web Applications.

2
Request Processing Lifecycle
Web user interfaces generally follow a pattern where the user-agent sends one or more requests to the server with the end
goal of displaying a user-interface. In the case of Web browsers, an initial HTTP GET or POST request is made to the
server, which responds with a document which the browser interprets and automatically makes subsequent requests on
the user’s behalf. The responses to each of these subsequent requests are usually images, JavaScript files, CSS Style
Sheets, and other artifacts that fit “into” the original document. If the JSF lifecycle is involved in rendering the initial
response, the entire process of initial request, the response to that request, and any subsequent requests made
automatically by the user-agent, and their responses, is called a Faces View Request/Response for discussion. The
following graphic illustrates a Faces View Request/Response.
Each Faces View Request/Response goes through a well-defined request processing lifecycle made up of phases. There
are three different scenarios that must be considered, each with its own combination of phases and activities:
? Non-Faces Request generates Faces Response
? Faces Request generates Faces Response
? Faces Request generates Non-Faces Response
Where the terms being used are defined as follows:

? Faces Response—A response that was created by the execution of the Render Response phase of the request
processing lifecycle.
? Non-Faces Response—A response that was not created by the execution of the render response phase of the request
processing lifecycle. Examples would be a servlet-generated or JSP-rendered response that does not incorporate JSF
components, a response that sets an HTTP status code other than the usual 200 (such as a redirect), or a response
Chapter 2 Request Processing Lifecycle 2-1

whose HTTP body consists entirely of the bytes of an in page resource, such as a JavaScript file, a CSS file, an image,
or an applet. This last scenario is considered a special case of a Non-Faces Response and will be referred to as a
Faces Resource Response for the remainder of this specification.
? Faces Request—A request that was sent from a previously generated Faces response. Examples would be a hyperlink
or form submit from a rendered user interface component, where the request URI was crafted (by the component or
renderer that created it) to identify the view to use for processing the request. Another example is a request for a
resource that the user-agent was instructed to fetch an artifact such as an image, a JavaScript file, a CSS stylesheet, or
an applet. This last scenario is considered a special case of a Faces Request and will be referred to as a Faces
Resource Request for the remainder of this specification.
? Non-Faces Request—A request that was sent to an application component (e.g. a servlet or JSP page), rather than
directed to a Faces view.
In addition, of course, your web application may receive non-Faces requests that generate non-Faces responses. Because
such requests do not involve JavaServer Faces at all, their processing is outside the scope of this specification, and will
not be considered further.
READER NOTE: The dynamic behavior descriptions in this Chapter make forward references to the sections that
describe the individual classes and interfaces. You will probably find it useful to follow the reference and skim the
definition of each new class or interface as you encounter them, then come back and finish the behavior description.
Later, you can study the characteristics of each JSF API in the subsequent chapters.
2.1 Request Processing Lifecycle Scenarios

Each of the scenarios described above has a lifecycle that is composed of a particular set of phases, executed in a
particular order. The scenarios are described individually in the following subsections.
2.1.1 Non-Faces Request Generates Faces Response

An application that is processing a non-Faces request may use JSF to render a Faces response to that request. In order to
accomplish this, the application must perform the common activities that are described in the following sections:
? Acquire Faces object references, as described in Section 2.4.1 “Acquire Faces Object References”, below.
? Create a new view, as described in Section 2.4.2 “Create And Configure A New View”, below.
? Store the view into the FacesContext by calling the setViewRoot() method on the FacesContext.
2.1.2 Faces Request Generates Faces Response

The most common lifecycle will be the case where a previous Faces response includes user interface controls that will
submit a subsequent request to this web application, utilizing a request URI that is mapped to the JSF implementation’s
controller, as described in Section 11.1.2 “Servlet Mapping”. Because such a request will be initially handled by the JSF
2-2 JavaServer Faces Specification • January 2017

implementation, the application need not take any special steps—its event listeners, validators, and application actions
will be invoked at appropriate times as the standard request processing lifecycle, described in the following diagrams, is
invoked.
The “Handle Resource Request” box, and its subsequent boxes, are explained in Section 2.6 “Resource Handling”. The
following diagram explains the “Execute and Render Lifecycle” box.
The behavior of the individual phases of the request processing lifecycle are described in individual subsections of
Section 2.2 “Standard Request Processing Lifecycle Phases”. Note that, at the conclusion of several phases of the request
processing lifecycle, common event processing logic (as described in Section 2.3 “Common Event Processing”) is
performed to broadcast any FacesEvents generated by components in the component tree to interested event listeners.
2.1.3 Faces Request Generates Non-Faces Response

Normally, a JSF-based application will utilize the Render Response phase of the request processing lifecycle to actually
create the response that is sent back to the client. In some circumstances, however, this behavior might not be desirable.
For example:
? A Faces Request needs to be redirected to a different web application resource (via a call to
HttpServletResponse.sendRedirect).
? A Faces Request causes the generation of a response using some other technology (such as a servlet, or a JSP page
not containing JSF components).
? A Faces Request causes the generation of a response simply by serving up the bytes of a resource, such as an image,
a JavaScript file, a CSS file, or an applet

In any of these scenarios, the application will have used the standard mechanisms of the servlet or portlet API to create
the response headers and content. It is then necessary to tell the JSF implementation that the response has already been
created, so that the Render Response phase of the request processing lifecycle should be skipped. This is accomplished
by calling the responseComplete() method on the FacesContext instance for the current request, prior to
returning from event handlers or application actions.
2.2 Standard Request Processing Lifecycle Phases

The standard phases of the request processing lifecycle are described in the following subsections.
[P1-start-currentPhaseId]The default request lifecycle processing implementation must ensure that the
currentPhaseId property of the FacesContext instance for this request is set with the proper PhaseId constant
for the current phase as early as possible at the beginning of each phase.[P1-end]
2.2.1 Restore View

[P1-start-restoreView]The JSF implementation must perform the following tasks during the Restore View phase of the
request processing lifecycle:
? Call initView() on the ViewHandler. This will set the character encoding properly for this request.
? Examine the FacesContext instance for the current request. If it already contains a UIViewRoot:
? Set the locale on this UIViewRoot to the value returned by the getRequestLocale() method on the
ExternalContext for this request.
? Take no further action during this phase, and return. The presence of a UIViewRoot already installed in the
FacesContext before the Restore View Phase implementation indicates that the phase should assume the view has
already been restored by other means.
? Derive the viewId according to the following algorithm, or one semantically equivalent to it.
? Look in the request map for a value under the key javax.servlet.include.path_info. If found, let it be
the viewId.
? Call getRequestPathInfo() on the current ExternalContext. If this value is non-null, let this be the
viewId.
? Look in the request map for a value under the key javax.servlet.include.servlet_path. If found, let
it be the viewId.
? If none of these steps yields a non-null viewId, throw a FacesException with an appropriate localized
message.
? Determine if this request is a postback or initial request by executing the following algorithm. Find the render-kit-id
for the current request by calling calculateRenderKitId() on the Application’s ViewHandler. Get that
RenderKit’s ResponseStateManager and call its isPostback() method, passing the current
FacesContext. If the current request is an attempt by the servlet container to display a servlet error page, do not
interpret the request as a postback, even if it is indeed a postback.
? If the request is a postback, call setProcessingEvents(false) on the current FacesContext. Then call
ViewHandler.restoreView(), passing the FacesContext instance for the current request and the view
identifier, and returning a UIViewRoot for the restored view. If the return from ViewHandler.restoreView()
is null, throw a ViewExpiredException with an appropriate error message.
javax.faces.application.ViewExpiredException is a FacesException that must be thrown to
signal to the application that the expected view was not returned for the view identifier. An application may choose to
perform some action based on this exception.

Store the restored UIViewRoot in the FacesContext.
Call setProcessingEvents(true) on the current FacesContext.
? If the request is not a postback, try to obtain the ViewDeclarationLanguage from the ViewHandler, for the
current viewId by calling ViewHandler.deriveLogicalViewId() and passing the result to
ViewHandler.getViewDeclarationLanguage(). If no such instance can be obtained, call
facesContext.renderResponse(). Otherwise, call getViewMetadata() on the
ViewDeclarationLanguage instance. If the result is non-null, call createMetadataView() on the
ViewMetadata instance. Call ViewMetadata.hasMetadata(), passing the newly created viewRoot. If this
method returns false, call facesContext.renderResponse(). If it turns out that the previous call to
createViewMetadata() did not create a UIViewRoot instance, call createView() on the ViewHandler.
View Protection
Call ViewHandler.getProtectedViewsUnmodifiable() to determine if the view for this viewId is protected. If not,
assume the requested view is not protected and take no additional view protection steps. Obtain the value of the
value of the request parameter whose name is given by the value of
ResponseStateManager.NON_POSTBACK_VIEW_TOKEN_PARAM. If there is no value, throw
ProtectedViewException. If the value is present, compare it to the return from
ResponseStateManager.getCryptographicallyStrongTokenFromSession(). If the values do not match, throw
ProtectedViewException. If the values do match, look for a Referer [sic] request header. If the header is present, use
the protected view API to determine if any of the declared protected views match the value of the Referer header. If
so, conclude that the previously visited page is also a protected view and it is therefore safe to continue. Otherwise,
try to determine if the value of the Referer header corresponds to any of the views in the current web application. If
not, throw a ProtectedViewException. If the Origin header is present, additionally perform the same steps as with the
Referer header.
Call renderResponse() on the FacesContext.
Obtain a reference to the FlowHandler from the Application. Call its clientWindowTransition() method.
This ensures that navigation that happened as a result of the renderer for the javax.faces.OutcomeTarget
component-family is correctly handled with respect to flows. For example, this enables <h:button> to work correctly
with flows.
Using Application.publishEvent(), publish a PostAddToViewEvent with the created UIViewRoot as the

event source.
In all cases, the implementation must ensure that the restored tree is traversed and the PostRestoreStateEvent is
published for every node in the tree.[P1-end]
At the end of this phase, the viewRoot property of the FacesContext instance for the current request will reflect the
saved configuration of the view generated by the previous Faces Response, or a new view returned by
ViewHandler.createView() for the view identifier.
2.2.2 Apply Request Values

The purpose of the Apply Request Values phase of the request processing lifecycle is to give each component the
opportunity to update its current state from the information included in the current request (parameters, headers, cookies,
and so on). When the information from the current request has been examined to update the component’s current state,
the component is said to have a “local value”.
[P1-start-applyRequestDecode]During the Apply Request Values phase, the JSF implementation must call the
processDecodes() method of the UIViewRoot of the component tree.[P1-end] This will normally cause the
processDecodes() method of each component in the tree to be called recursively, as described in the Javadocs for
the UIComponent.processDecodes() method. [P1-start-partialDecode] The processDecodes() method must
determine if the current request is a “partial request” by calling
FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getPartialViewContext().isPartialRequest(). If

FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getPartialViewContext().isPartialRequest() returns
true, perform the sequence of steps as outlined in Section 2.2.2.1 “Apply Request Values Partial Processing”.[P1-end]
Details of the decoding process follow.
During the decoding of request values, some components perform special processing, including:
? Components that implement ActionSource (such as UICommand), which recognize that they were activated, will
queue an ActionEvent. The event will be delivered at the end of Apply Request Values phase if the immediate
property of the component is true, or at the end of Invoke Application phase if it is false.
? Components that implement EditableValueHolder (such as UIInput), and whose immediate property is set
to true, will cause the conversion and validation processing (including the potential to fire ValueChangeEvent
events) that normally happens during Process Validations phase to occur during Apply Request Values phase instead.
As described in Section 2.3 “Common Event Processing”, the processDecodes() method on the UIViewRoot
component at the root of the component tree will have caused any queued events to be broadcast to interested listeners.
At the end of this phase, all EditableValueHolder components in the component tree will have been updated with
new submitted values included in this request (or enough data to reproduce incorrect input will have been stored, if there
were conversion errors). [P1-start-applyRequestConversion]In addition, conversion and validation will have been
performed on EditableValueHolder components whose immediate property is set to true, as described in the
UIInput Javadocs. Conversions and validations that failed will have caused messages to be enqueued via calls to the
addMessage() method of the FacesContext instance for the current request, and the valid property on the
corresponding component(s) will be set to false. [P1-end]
If any of the decode() methods that were invoked, or an event listener that processed a queued event, called
responseComplete() on the FacesContext instance for the current request, clear the remaining events from the
event queue and terminate lifecycle processing of the current request. [P1-start-applyRequestComplete]If any of the
decode() methods that were invoked, or an event listener that processed a queued event, called renderResponse()
on the FacesContext instance for the current request, clear the remaining events from the event queue and transfer
control to the Render Response phase of the request processing lifecycle. Otherwise, control must proceed to the Process
Validations phase.[P1-end]
2.2.2.1 Apply Request Values Partial Processing

[P1-start-apply-partial-processing]Call FacesContext.getPartialViewContext(). Call PartialViewContext.processPartial()
passing the FacesContext, PhaseID.APPLY_REQUEST_VALUES as arguments. [P1-end]
2.2.3 Process Validations

As part of the creation of the view for this request, zero or more Validator instances may have been registered for
each component. In addition, component classes themselves may implement validation logic in their validate()
methods.
[P1-start-validation]During the Process Validations phase of the request processing lifecycle, the JSF implementation
must call the processValidators() method of the UIViewRoot of the tree.[P1-end] This will normally cause the
processValidators() method of each component in the tree to be called recursively, as described in the API
reference for the UIComponent.processValidators() method. [P1-start-partialValidate] The
processValidators() method must determine if the current request is a “partial request” by calling
true, perform the sequence of steps as outlined in Section 2.2.3.1 “Partial Validations Partial Processing”.[P1-end] Note
that EditableValueHolder components whose immediate property is set to true will have had their conversion
and validation processing performed during Apply Request Values phase.

During the processing of validations, events may have been queued by the components and/or Validators whose
validate() method was invoked. As described in Section 2.3 “Common Event Processing”, the
processValidators() method on the UIViewRoot component at the root of the component tree will have caused
any queued events to be broadcast to interested listeners.
At the end of this phase, all conversions and configured validations will have been completed. Conversions and
Validations that failed will have caused messages to be enqueued via calls to the addMessage() method of the
FacesContext instance for the current request, and the valid property on the corresponding components will have
been set to false.
If any of the validate() methods that were invoked, or an event listener that processed a queued event, called
event queue and terminate lifecycle processing of the current request. [P1-start-validationValidate]If any of the
validate() methods that were invoked, or an event listener that processed a queued event, called
renderResponse() on the FacesContext instance for the current request, clear the remaining events from the
event queue and transfer control to the Render Response phase of the request processing lifecycle. Otherwise, control
must proceed to the Update Model Values phase.[P1-end]
2.2.3.1 Partial Validations Partial Processing

[P1-start-val-partial-processing]Call FacesContext.getPartialViewContext(). Call PartialViewContext.processPartial()
passing the FacesContext, PhaseID.PROCESS_VALIDATIONS as arguments. [P1-end]
2.2.4 Update Model Values

If this phase of the request processing lifecycle is reached, it is assumed that the incoming request is syntactically and
semantically valid (according to the validations that were performed), that the local value of every component in the
component tree has been updated, and that it is now appropriate to update the application's model data in preparation for
performing any application events that have been enqueued.
[P1-start-updateModel]During the Update Model Values phase, the JSF implementation must call the
processUpdates() method of the UIViewRoot component of the tree.[P1-end] This will normally cause the
processUpdates() method of each component in the tree to be called recursively, as described in the API reference
for the UIComponent.processUpdates() method. [P1-start-partialUpdate] The processUpdates() method
must determine if the current request is a “partial request” by calling
true, perform the sequence of steps as outlined in Section 2.2.4.1 “Update Model Values Partial Processing”. [P1-
end]The actual model update for a particular component is done in the updateModel() method for that component.
During the processing of model updates, events may have been queued by the components whose updateModel()
method was invoked. As described in Section 2.3 “Common Event Processing”, the processUpdates() method on
the UIViewRoot component at the root of the component tree will have caused any queued events to be broadcast to
interested listeners.
At the end of this phase, all appropriate model data objects will have had their values updated to match the local value
of the corresponding component, and the component local values will have been cleared.
If any of the updateModel() methods that were invoked, or an event listener that processed a queued event, called
event queue and terminate lifecycle processing of the current request. [P1-start-updateModelComplete]If any of the
updateModel() methods that was invoked, or an event listener that processed a queued event, called
renderResponse() on the FacesContext instance for the current request, clear the remaining events from the
event queue and transfer control to the Render Response phase of the request processing lifecycle. Otherwise, control
must proceed to the Invoke Application phase.[P1-end]

2.2.4.1 Update Model Values Partial Processing
[P1-start-upd-partial-processing]Call FacesContext.getPartialViewContext(). Call PartialViewContext.processPartial()
passing the FacesContext, PhaseID.UPDATE_MODEL_VALUES as arguments. [P1-end]
2.2.5 Invoke Application

If this phase of the request processing lifecycle is reached, it is assumed that all model updates have been completed, and
any remaining event broadcast to the application needs to be performed. [P1-start-invokeApplication]The
implementation must ensure that the processApplication() method of the UIViewRoot instance is called.[P1-
end] The default behavior of this method will be to broadcast any queued events that specify a phase identifier of
PhaseId.INVOKE_APPLICATION. If responseComplete()was called on the FacesContext instance for the
current request, clear the remaining events from the event queue and terminate lifecycle processing of the current
request. If renderResponse() was called on the FacesContext instance for the current request, clear the
remaining events from the event queue.
Advanced applications (or application frameworks) may replace the default ActionListener instance by calling the
setActionListener() method on the Application instance for this application. [P1-start-
invokeApplicationListener]However, the JSF implementation must provide a default ActionListener instance that
behaves as described in Section 7.1.1 “ActionListener Property”.[P1-end]
2.2.6 Render Response

This phase accomplishes two things:
1. Causes the response to be rendered to the client
2. Causes the state of the response to be saved for processing on subsequent requests.
JSF supports a range of approaches that JSF implementations may utilize in creating the response text that corresponds
to the contents of the response view, including:
? Deriving all of the response content directly from the results of the encoding methods (on either the components or
the corresponding renderers) that are called.
? Interleaving the results of component encoding with content that is dynamically generated by application
programming logic.
? Interleaving the results of component encoding with content that is copied from a static “template” resource.
? Interleaving the results of component encoding by embedding calls to the encoding methods into a dynamic resource
(such as representing the components as custom tags in a JSP page).
Because of the number of possible options, the mechanism for implementing the Render Response phase cannot be
specified precisely. [P1-start-renderResponse]However, all JSF implementations of this phase must conform to the
following requirements:
? If it is possible to obtain a ViewDeclarationLanguage instance for the current viewId, from the
ViewHandler, its buildView() method must be called.
? Publish the javax.faces.event.PreRenderViewEvent.
? JSF implementations must provide a default ViewHandler implementation that is capable of handling views written
in JSP as well as views written in the Faces View Declaration Language (VDL). In the case of JSP, the ViewHandler
must perform a RequestDispatcher.forward() call to a web application resource whose context-relative path
is equal to the view identifier of the component tree.

? If all of the response content is being derived from the encoding methods of the component or associated
Renderers, the component tree should be walked in the same depth-first manner as was used in earlier phases to
process the component tree, but subject to the additional constraints listed here. Generally this is handled by a call to
ViewHandler.renderView().
? If the response content is being interleaved from additional sources and the encoding methods, the components may
be selected for rendering in any desired order1.
? During the rendering process, additional components may be added to the component tree based on information
available to the ViewHandler implementation2. However, before adding a new component, the ViewHandler
implementation must first check for the existence of the corresponding component in the component tree. If the
component already exists (perhaps because a previous phase has pre-created one or more components), the existing
component’s properties and attributes must be utilized.
? Under no circumstances should a component be selected for rendering when its parent component, or any of its
ancestors in the component tree, has its rendersChildren property set to true. In such cases, the parent or
ancestor component must render the content of this child component when the parent or ancestor was selected.
? If the isRendered() method of a component returns false, the renderer for that component must not generate
any markup, and none of its facets or children (if any) should be rendered.
? It must be possible for the application to programmatically modify the component tree at any time during the request
processing lifecycle (except during the rendering of the view) and have the system behave as expected. For example,
the following must be permitted. Modification of the view during rendering may lead to undefined results. It must be
possible to allow components added by the templating system (such as JSP) to be removed from the tree before
rendering. It must be possible to programmatically add components to the tree and have them render in the proper
place in the hierarchy. It must be possible to re-order components in the tree before rendering. These manipulations
do require that any components added to the tree have ids that are unique within the scope of the closest parent
NamingContainer component. The value of the rendersChildren property is handled as expected, and may
be either true or false.
? If running on a container that supports Servlet 4.0 or later, after any dynamic component manipulations have been
completed, any resources that have been added to the UIViewRoot, such as scripts, images, or stylesheets, and any
inline images, must be pushed to the client using the Servlet Server Push API. All of the pushes must be started
before any of the HTML of the response is rendered to the client.
? For partial requests, where partial view rendering is required, there must be no content written outside of the view
(outside f:view). Response writing must be disabled. Response writing must be enabled again at the start of
encodeBegin.
When each particular component in the component tree is selected for rendering, calls to its encodeXxx() methods
must be performed in the manner described in Section 3.1.13 “Component Specialization Methods”. For components that
implement ValueHolder (such as UIInput and UIOutput), data conversion must occur as described in the
UIOutput Javadocs.
Upon completion of rendering, but before state saving the JSF runtime must publish a
javax.faces.event.PostRenderViewEvent. After doing so the JSF runtime must save the completed state
using the methods of the class StateManager. This state information must be made accessible on a subsequent
request, so that the Restore View can access it.[P1-end] For more on StateManager, see Section 7.8.3 “State Saving
Methods.”
2.2.6.1 Render Response Partial Processing

[P1-start-render-partial-processing] According to UIViewRoot.encodeChildren(),
FacesContext.processPartial(PhaseId.RENDER_RESPONSE), will be called if and only if the current
request is an Ajax request. Take these actions in this case.
On the ExternalContext for the request, call setResponseContentType("text/xml") and

addResponseHeader("Cache-control", "no-cache"). Call startDocument() on the
PartialResponseWriter.
1. Typically, component selection will be driven by the occurrence of special markup (such as the existence of a JSP custom tag) in the template text associated
with the component tree.
2. For example, this technique is used when custom tags in JSP pages are utilized as the rendering technology, as described in Chapter 9 “Integration with JSP.

Call writePreamble(“<?xml version=’1.0’ encoding=’currentEncoding’?>\n”) on the
PartialResponseWriter, where encoding is the return from the getCharacterEncoding() on the
PartialResponseWriter, or UTF-8 if that method returns null.
If isResetValues() returns true, call getRenderIds() and pass the result to

UIViewRoot.resetValues().
If isRenderAll() returns true and the view root is not an instance of NamingContainer, call
startUpdate(PartialResponseWriter.RENDER_ALL_MARKER) on the PartialResponseWriter. For
each child of the UIViewRoot, call encodeAll(). Call endUpdate() on the PartialResponseWriter.
Render the state using the algorithm described below in Section “Partial State Rendering”, call endDocument() on
the PartialResponseWriter and return. If isRenderAll() returns true and this UIViewRoot is a
NamingContainer, treat this as a case where isRenderAll() returned false, but use the UIViewRoot itself as
the one and only component from which the tree visit must start.
If isRenderAll() returns false, if there are ids to render, visit the subset of components in the tree to be rendered
in similar fashion as for other phases, but for each UIComponent in the traversal, call startUpdate(id) on the
PartialResponseWriter, where id is the client id of the component. Call encodeAll() on the component, and
then endUpdate() on the PartialResponseWriter. If there are no ids to render, this step is un-necessary. After
the subset of components (if any) have been rendered, Render the state using the algorithm described below in Section
“Partial State Rendering”, call endDocument() on the PartialResponseWriter and return.
Partial State Rendering

This section describes the requirements for rendering the <update> elements pertaining to view state and window id in
the case of partial response rendering.
If the view root is marked transient, take no action and return.
Obtain a unique id for the view state, as described in the JavaDocs for the constant field
ResponseStateManager.VIEW_STATE_PARAM. Pass this id to a call to startUpdate() on the
PartialResponseWriter. Obtain the view state to render by calling getViewState() on the application’s
StateManager. Write the state by calling write() on the PartialResponseWriter, passing the state as the
argument. Call endUpdate() on the PartialResponseWriter.
If getClientWindow() on the ExternalContext, returns non-null, obtain an id for the <update> element for
the window id as described in the JavaDocs for the constant ResponseStateManager.WINDOW_ID_PARAM. Pass
this id to a call to startUpdate() on the PartialResponseWriter. Call write() on that same writer, passing
the result of calling getId() on the ClientWindow. Call endUpdate() on the PartialResponseWriter.
[P1-end]
2.3 Common Event Processing

For a complete description of the event processing model for JavaServer Faces components, see Section 3.4 “Event and
Listener Model”.
During several phases of the request processing lifecycle, as described in Section 2.2 “Standard Request Processing
Lifecycle Phases”, the possibility exists for events to be queued (via a call to the queueEvent() method on the source
UIComponent instance, or a call to the queue() method on the FacesEvent instance), which must now be
broadcast to interested event listeners. The broadcast is performed as a side effect of calling the appropriate lifecycle
management method (processDecodes(), processValidators(), processUpdates(), or
processApplication()) on the UIViewRoot instance at the root of the current component tree.

[P1-start-eventBroadcast]For each queued event, the broadcast() method of the source UIComponent must be
called to broadcast the event to all event listeners who have registered an interest, on this source component for events
of the specified type, after which the event is removed from the event queue.[P1-end] See the API reference for the
UIComponent.broadcast() method for the detailed functional requirements.
It is also possible for event listeners to cause additional events to be enqueued for processing during the current phase of
the request processing lifecycle. [P1-start-eventOrder]Such events must be broadcast in the order they were enqueued,
after all originally queued events have been broadcast, before the lifecycle management method returns.[P1-end]
2.4 Common Application Activities

The following subsections describe common activities that may be undertaken by an application that is using JSF to
process an incoming request and/or create an outgoing response. Their use is described in Section 2.1 “Request
Processing Lifecycle Scenarios”, for each request processing lifecycle scenario in which the activity is relevant.
2.4.1 Acquire Faces Object References

This phase is only required when the request being processed was not submitted from a previous response, and therefore
did not initiate the Faces Request Generates Faces Response lifecycle. In order to generate a Faces Response, the
application must first acquire references to several objects provided by the JSF implementation, as described below.
2.4.1.1 Acquire and Configure Lifecycle Reference

[P1-start-lifeReference]As described in Section 12.1 “Lifecycle”, the JSF implementation must provide an instance of
javax.faces.lifecycle.Lifecycle that may be utilized to manage the remainder of the request processing
lifecycle.[P1-end] An application may acquire a reference to this instance in a portable manner, as follows:
LifecycleFactory lFactory = (LifecycleFactory)

FactoryFinder.getFactory(FactoryFinder.LIFECYCLE_FACTORY);
Lifecycle lifecycle =
lFactory.getLifecycle(LifecycleFactory.DEFAULT_LIFECYCLE);
It is also legal to specify a different lifecycle identifier as a parameter to the getLifecycle() method, as long as this
identifier is recognized and supported by the JSF implementation you are using. However, using a non-default lifecycle
identifier will generally not be portable to any other JSF implementation.

2.4.1.2 Acquire and Configure FacesContext Reference
[P1-start-contextReference]As described in Section 6.1 “FacesContext”, the JSF implementation must provide an
instance of javax.faces.context.FacesContext to contain all of the per-request state information for a Faces
Request or a Faces Response. An application that is processing a Non-Faces Request, but wants to create a Faces
Response, must acquire a reference to a FacesContext instance as follows
FacesContextFactory fcFactory = (FacesContextFactory)

FactoryFinder.getFactory(FactoryFinder.FACES_CONTEXT_FACTORY);
FacesContext facesContext =
fcFactory.getFacesContext(context, request, response,
lifecycle);
where the context, request, and response objects represent the corresponding instances for the application
environment.[P1-end] For example, in a servlet-based application, these would be the ServletContext,
HttpServletRequest, and HttpServletResponse instances for the current request.
2.4.2 Create And Configure A New View

When a Faces response is being intially created, or when the application decides it wants to create and configure a new
view that will ultimately be rendered, it may follow the steps described below in order to set up the view that will be
used. You must start with a reference to a FacesContext instance for the current request.
2.4.2.1 Create A New View

Views are represented by a data structure rooted in an instance of javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot, and
identified by a view identifier whose meaning depends on the ViewHandler implementation to be used during the
Render Response phase of the request processing lifecycle3. The ViewHandler provides a factory method that may be
utilized to construct new component trees, as follows:
String viewId = ...identifier of the desired Tree...;

ViewHandler viewHandler = application.getViewHandler();
UIViewRoot view = viewHandler.createView(facesContext, viewId);
[P1-start-createViewRoot]The UIViewRoot instance returned by the createView() method must minimally contain
a single UIViewRoot provided by the JSF implementation, which must encapsulate any implementation-specific
component management that is required.[P1-end] Optionally, a JSF implementation’s ViewHandler may support the
automatic population of the returned UIViewRoot with additional components, perhaps based on some external
metadata description.
[P1-start-createView]The caller of ViewHandler.createView() must cause the FacesContext to be populated

with the new UIViewRoot. Applications must make sure that it is safe to discard any state saved in the view rooted at
the UIViewRoot currently stored in the FacesContext.[P1-end] If Facelets is the page definition language,
FacesContext.setViewRoot()must be called before returning from ViewHandler.createView(). Refer to
Section 7.6.2 “Default ViewHandler Implementation” for more ViewHandler details.
3. The default ViewHandler implementation performs a RequestDispatcher.forward call to the web application resource that will actually perform the
rendering, so it expects the tree identifier to be the context-relative path (starting with a / character) of the web application resource

2.4.2.2 Configure the Desired RenderKit
[P1-start-defaultRenderkit]The UIViewRoot instance provided by the ViewHandler, as described in the previous
subsection, must automatically be configured to utilize the default javax.faces.render.RenderKit
implementation provided by the JSF implementation, as described in Section 8.1 “RenderKit”. This RenderKit must
support the standard components and Renderers described later in this specification, to maximize the portability of
your application.[P1-end]
However, a different RenderKit instance provided by your JSF implementation (or as an add-on library) may be
utilized instead, if desired. A reference to this RenderKit instance can be obtained from the standard
RenderKitFactory, and then assigned to the UIViewRoot instance created previously, as follows:
String renderKitId = ... identifier of desired RenderKit ...;

RenderKitFactory rkFactory = (RenderKitFactory)
FactoryFinder.getFactory(FactoryFinder.RENDER_KIT_FACTORY);
RenderKit renderKit = rkFactory.getRenderKit(renderKitId,
facesContext);
view.setRenderKitId(renderKitId);
As described in Chapter 8, changing the RenderKit being used changes the set of Renderers that will actually
perform decoding and encoding activities. Because the components themselves store only a rendererType property (a
logical identifier of a particular Renderer), it is thus very easy to switch between RenderKits, as long as they
support renderers with the same renderer types.
[P1-start-calcRenderkitId]The default ViewHandler must call calculateRenderKitId() on itself and set the
result into the UIViewRoot’s renderKitId property.[P1-end] This allows applications that use alternative
RenderKits to dynamically switch on a per-view basis.
2.4.2.3 Configure The View’s Components

At any time, the application can add new components to the view, remove them, or modify the attributes and properties
of existing components. For example, a new FooComponent (an implementation of UIComponent) can be added as a
child to the root UIViewRoot in the component tree as follows:
FooComponent component = ...create a FooComponent instance...;

facesContext.getViewRoot().getChildren().add(component);
2.4.2.4 Store the new View in the FacesContext

[P1-start-setViewRoot]Once the view has been created and configured, the FacesContext instance for this request
must be made aware of it by calling setViewRoot().[P1-end]
2.5 Concepts that impact several lifecycle phases

This section is intended to give the reader a “big picture” perspective on several complex concepts that impact several
request processing lifecycle phases.

2.5.1 Value Handling
At a fundamental level, JavaServer Faces is a way to get values from the user, into your model tier for processing. The
process by which values flow from the user to the model has been documented elsewhere in this spec, but a brief holistic
survey comes in handy. The following description assumes the JSP/HTTP case, and that all components have Renderers.
2.5.1.1 Apply Request Values Phase

The user presses a button that causes a form submit to occur. This causes the state of the form to be sent as name=
value pairs in the POST data of the HTTP request. The JSF request processing lifecycle is entered, and eventually we
come to the Apply Request Values Phase. In this phase, the decode() method for each Renderer for each
UIComponent in the view is called. The Renderer takes the value from the request and passes it to the
setSubmittedValue() method of the component, which is, of course, an instance of EditableValueHolder. If
the component has the "immediate" property set to true, we execute validation immediately after decoding. See
below for what happens when we execute validation.
2.5.1.2 Process Validators Phase

processValidators() is called on the root of the view. For each EditableValueHolder in the view, If the
“immediate” property is not set, we execute validation for each UIInput in the view. Otherwise, validation has
already occurred and this phase is a no-op.
2.5.1.3 Executing Validation

Please see the javadocs for UIInput.validate() for more details, but basically, this method gets the submitted
value from the component (set during Apply Request Values), gets the Renderer for the component and calls its
getConvertedValue(), passing the submitted value. If a conversion error occurs, it is dealt with as described in the
javadocs for that method. Otherwise, all validators attached to the component are asked to validate the converted value.
If any validation errors occur, they are dealt with as described in the javadocs for Validator.validate(). The
converted value is pushed into the component's setValue() method, and a ValueChangeEvent is fired if the value
has changed.
2.5.1.4 Update Model Values Phase

For each UIInput component in the view, its updateModel() method is called. This method only takes action if a
local value was set when validation executed and if the page author configured this component to push its value to the
model tier. This phase simply causes the converted local value of the UIInput component to be pushed to the model in
the way specified by the page author. Any errors that occur as a result of the attempt to push the value to the model tier
are dealt with as described in the javadocs for UIInput.updateModel().
2.5.2 Localization and Internationalization (L10N/I18N)

JavaServer Faces is fully internationalized. The I18N capability in JavaServer Faces builds on the I18N concepts offered
in the Servlet, JSP and JSTL specifications. I18N happens at several points in the request processing lifecycle, but it is
easiest to explain what goes on by breaking the task down by function.

2.5.2.1 Determining the active Locale
JSF has the concept of an active Locale which is used to look up all localized resources. Converters must use this
Locale when performing their conversion. This Locale is stored as the value of the locale JavaBeans property on
the UIViewRoot of the current FacesContext. The application developer can tell JSF what locales the application
supports in the applications’ WEB-INF/faces-config.xml file. For example:
<faces-config>
<application>
<locale-config>
<default-locale>en</default-locale>
<supported-locale>de</supported-locale>
<supported-locale>fr</supported-locale>
<supported-locale>es</supported-locale>
</locale-config>
</application>
This application’s default locale is en, but it also supports de, fr, and es locales. These elements cause the
Application instance to be populated with Locale data. Please see the javadocs for details.
The UIViewRoot’s Locale is determined and set by the ViewHandler during the execution of the
ViewHandler’s createView() method. [P1-start-locale]This method must cause the active Locale to be
determined by looking at the user’s preferences combined with the application’s stated supported locales.[P1-end] Please
see the javadocs for details.
The application can call UIViewRoot.setLocale() directly, but it is also possible for the page author to override
the UIViewRoot’s locale by using the locale attribute on the <f:view> tag. [P1-start-localeValue]The value of this
attribute must be specified as language[{-|_}country[{-|_}variant]] without the colons, for example
"ja_JP_SJIS". The separators between the segments must be '-' or '_'.[P1-end]
In all cases where JSP is utilized, the active Locale is set under “request scope” into the JSTL class
javax.servlet.jsp.jstl.core.Config, under the key Config.FMT_LOCALE.
To facilitate BCP 47 support, the Locale parsing mentioned above is done only if the JDK Locale.languageForTag
method does not return a Locale with a language in it. The additional format of the Locale string is as specified by that
method.
2.5.2.2 Determining the Character Encoding

The request and response character encoding are set and interpreted as follows.
On an initial request to a Faces webapp, the request character encoding is left unmodified, relying on the underlying
request object (e.g., the servlet or portlet request) to parse request parameter correctly.
[P1-start-setLocale]At the beginning of the render-response phase, the ViewHandler must ensure that the response Locale
is set to be that of the UIViewRoot, for example by calling ServletResponse.setLocale() when running in the
servlet environment.[P1-end] Setting the response Locale may affect the response character encoding, see the Servlet and
Portlet specifications for details.
[P1-start-encoding]At the end of the render-response phase, the ViewHandler must store the response character encoding
used by the underlying response object (e.g., the servlet or portlet response) in the session (if and only if a session
already exists) under a well known, implementation-dependent key.
On a subsequent postback, before any of the ExternalContext methods for accessing request parameters are invoked, the
ViewHandler must examine the Content-Type header to read the charset attribute and use its value to set it as the request
encoding for the underlying request object. If the Content-Type header doesn't contain a charset attribute, the encoding
previously stored in the session (if and only if a session already exists), must be used to set the encoding for the
underlying request object. If no character encoding is found, the request encoding must be left unmodified.[P1-end]

The above algorithm allows an application to use the mechanisms of the underlying technologies to adjust both the
request and response encoding in an application-specific manner, for instance using the page directive with a fixed
character encoding defined in the contentType attribute in a JSP page, see the Servlet, Portlet and JSP specifications for
details. Note, though, that the character encoding rules prior to Servlet 2.4 and JSP 2.0 are imprecise and special care
must be taken for portability between containers.
2.5.2.3 Localized Text

There is no direct support for this in the API, but the JSP layer provides a convenience tag that converts a
ResourceBundle into a java.util.Map and stores it in the scoped namespace so all may get to it. This section
describes how resources displayed to the end user may be localized. This includes images, labels, button text, tooltips, alt
text, etc.
Since most JSF components allow pulling their display value from the model tier, it is easy to do the localization at the
model tier level. As a convenience, JSF provides the <f:loadBundle> tag, which takes a ResourceBundle and
loads it into a Map, which is then stored in the scoped namespace in request scope, thus making its messages available
using the same mechanism for accessing data in the model tier. For example:
<f:loadBundle basename=”com.foo.industryMessages.chemical”
var=”messages” />
<h:outputText value=”#{messages.benzene}” />
This must cause the ResourceBundle named com.foo.industryMessages.chemical to be loaded as a Map

into the request scope under the key messages. Localized content can then be pulled out of it using the normal value
expression syntax.
2.5.2.4 Localized Application Messages

This section describes how JSF handles localized error and informational messages that occur as a result of conversion,
validation, or other application actions during the request processing lifecycle. The JSF class
javax.faces.application.FacesMessage is provided to encapsulate summary, detail, and severity information
for a message. [P1-start-bundle]A JSF implementation must provide a javax.faces.Messages
ResourceBundle containing all of the necessary keys for the standard messages. The required keys (and a non-
normative indication of the intended message text) are as follows:
? javax.faces.component.UIInput.CONVERSION -- {0}: Conversion error occurred
? javax.faces.component.UIInput.REQUIRED -- {0}: Validation Error: Value is required
? javax.faces.component.UIInput.UPDATE -- {0}: An error occurred when processing your submitted information
? javax.faces.component.UISelectOne.INVALID -- {0}: Validation Error: Value is not valid
? javax.faces.component.UISelectMany.INVALID -- {0}: Validation Error: Value is not valid
? javax.faces.converter.BigDecimalConverter.DECIMAL={2}: ''{0}'' must be a signed decimal number.
? javax.faces.converter.BigDecimalConverter.DECIMAL_detail={2}: ''{0}'' must be a signed decimal number
consisting of zero or more digits, that may be followed by a decimal point and fraction. Example: {1}
? javax.faces.converter.BigIntegerConverter.BIGINTEGER={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number consisting of one or more
digits.
? javax.faces.converter.BigIntegerConverter.BIGINTEGER_detail={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number consisting of one or
more digits. Example: {1}
? javax.faces.converter.BooleanConverter.BOOLEAN={1}: ''{0}'' must be 'true' or 'false'.
? javax.faces.converter.BooleanConverter.BOOLEAN_detail={1}: ''{0}'' must be 'true' or 'false'. Any value other than
'true' will evaluate to 'false'.

? javax.faces.converter.ByteConverter.BYTE={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number between -128 and 127.
? javax.faces.converter.ByteConverter.BYTE_detail={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number between -128 and 127. Example:
{1}
? javax.faces.converter.CharacterConverter.CHARACTER={1}: ''{0}'' must be a valid character.
? javax.faces.converter.CharacterConverter.CHARACTER_detail={1}: ''{0}'' must be a valid ASCII character.
? javax.faces.converter.DateTimeConverter.DATE={2}: ''{0}'' could not be understood as a date.
? javax.faces.converter.DateTimeConverter.DATE_detail={2}: ''{0}'' could not be understood as a date. Example: {1}
? javax.faces.converter.DateTimeConverter.TIME={2}: ''{0}'' could not be understood as a time.
? javax.faces.converter.DateTimeConverter.TIME_detail={2}: ''{0}'' could not be understood as a time. Example: {1}
? javax.faces.converter.DateTimeConverter.DATETIME={2}: ''{0}'' could not be understood as a date and time.
? javax.faces.converter.DateTimeConverter.DATETIME_detail={2}: ''{0}'' could not be understood as a date and time.
Example: {1}
? javax.faces.converter.DateTimeConverter.PATTERN_TYPE={1}: A 'pattern' or 'type' attribute must be specified to
convert the value ''{0}''.
? javax.faces.converter.DoubleConverter.DOUBLE={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number consisting of one or more digits.
? javax.faces.converter.DoubleConverter.DOUBLE_detail={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number between 4.9E-324 and
1.7976931348623157E308 Example: {1}
? javax.faces.converter.EnumConverter.ENUM={2}: ''{0}'' must be convertible to an enum.
? javax.faces.converter.EnumConverter.ENUM_detail={2}: ''{0}'' must be convertible to an enum from the enum that
contains the constant ''{1}''.
? javax.faces.converter.EnumConverter.ENUM_NO_CLASS={1}: ''{0}'' must be convertible to an enum from the
enum, but no enum class provided.
? javax.faces.converter.EnumConverter.ENUM_NO_CLASS_detail={1}: ''{0}'' must be convertible to an enum from
the enum, but no enum class provided.
? javax.faces.converter.FloatConverter.FLOAT={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number consisting of one or more digits.
? javax.faces.converter.FloatConverter.FLOAT_detail={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number between 1.4E-45 and
3.4028235E38 Example: {1}
? javax.faces.converter.IntegerConverter.INTEGER={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number consisting of one or more digits.
? javax.faces.converter.IntegerConverter.INTEGER_detail={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number between -2147483648 and
2147483647 Example: {1}
? javax.faces.converter.LongConverter.LONG={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number consisting of one or more digits.
? javax.faces.converter.LongConverter.LONG_detail={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number between -9223372036854775808 to
9223372036854775807 Example: {1}
? javax.faces.converter.NumberConverter.CURRENCY={2}: ''{0}'' could not be understood as a currency value.
? javax.faces.converter.NumberConverter.CURRENCY_detail={2}: ''{0}'' could not be understood as a currency value.
Example: {1}
? javax.faces.converter.NumberConverter.PERCENT={2}: ''{0}'' could not be understood as a percentage.
? javax.faces.converter.NumberConverter.PERCENT_detail={2}: ''{0}'' could not be understood as a percentage.
Example: {1}
? javax.faces.converter.NumberConverter.NUMBER={2}: ''{0}'' is not a number.
? javax.faces.converter.NumberConverter.NUMBER_detail={2}: ''{0}'' is not a number. Example: {1}
? javax.faces.converter.NumberConverter.PATTERN={2}: ''{0}'' is not a number pattern.
? javax.faces.converter.NumberConverter.PATTERN_detail={2}: ''{0}'' is not a number pattern. Example: {1}
? javax.faces.converter.ShortConverter.SHORT={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number consisting of one or more digits.
? javax.faces.converter.ShortConverter.SHORT_detail={2}: ''{0}'' must be a number between -32768 and 32767
Example: {1}

? javax.faces.converter.STRING={1}: Could not convert ''{0}'' to a string.
? javax.faces.validator.BeanValidator.MESSAGE -- {0}
? javax.faces.validator.DoubleRangeValidator.MAXIMUM -- {1}: Validation Error: Value is greater than allowable
maximum of ‘’{0}’’
? javax.faces.validator.DoubleRangeValidator.MINIMUM -- {1}: Validation Error: Value is less than allowable
minimum of ‘’{0}’’
? javax.faces.validator.DoubleRangeValidator.NOT_IN_RANGE -- {2}: Validation Error: Specified attribute is not
between the expected values of {0} and {1}.
? javax.faces.validator.DoubleRangeValidator.TYPE -- {0}: Validation Error: Value is not of the correct type
? javax.faces.validator.LengthValidator.MAXIMUM -- {1}: Validation Error: Length is greater than allowable
? javax.faces.validator.LengthValidator.MINIMUM -- {1}: Validation Error: Length is less than allowable minimum of
‘’{0}’’
? javax.faces.validator.LongRangeValidator.MAXIMUM -- {1}: Validation Error: Value is greater than allowable
? javax.faces.validator.LongRangeValidator.MINIMUM -- {1}: Validation Error Value is less than allowable minimum
of ‘’{0}’’
? javax.faces.validator.LongRangeValidator.NOT_IN_RANGE={2}: Validation Error: Specified attribute is not between
the expected values of {0} and {1}.
? javax.faces.validator.LongRangeValidator.TYPE -- {0}: Validation Error: Value is not of the correct type
The following message keys are deprecated:

? javax.faces.validator.NOT_IN_RANGE -- Specified attribute is not between the expected values of {0} and {1}[P1-
end]
A JSF application may provide its own messages, or overrides to the standard messages by supplying a <message-
bundle> element to in the application configuration resources. Since the ResourceBundle provided in the Java
platform has no notion of summary or detail, JSF adopts the policy that ResourceBundle key for the message looks
up the message summary. The detail is stored under the same key as the summary, with _detail appended. [P1-start-
bundleKey]These ResourceBundle keys must be used to look up the necessary values to create a localized
FacesMessage instance. Note that the value of the summary and detail keys in the ResourceBundle may contain
parameter substitution tokens, which must be substituted with the appropriate values using
java.text.MessageFormat.[P1-end] Replace the last parameter substitution token shown in the messages above
with the input component’s label attribute. For example, {1} for “DoubleRangeValidator.MAXIMUM”, {2}
for “ShortConverter.SHORT”. The label attribute is a generic attribute. Please see Section 3.1.11 “Generic
Attributes” and Section 8.6 “Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation” for more information on these attributes. If the
input component’s label attribute is not specified, use the component’s client identifier.
These messages can be displayed in the page using the UIMessage and UIMessages components and their
corresponding tags, <h:message> and <h:messages>.
[P1-start-facesMessage]The following algorithm must be used to create a FacesMessage instance given a message
key.
? Call getMessageBundle() on the Application instance for this web application, to determine if the
application has defined a resource bundle name. If so, load that ResourceBundle and look for the message there.
? If not there, look in the javax.faces.Messages resource bundle.
? In either case, if a message is found, use the above conventions to create a FacesMessage instance.[P1-end]

2.5.3 State Management
JavaServer Faces introduces a powerful and flexible system for saving and restoring the state of the view between
requests to the server. It is useful to describe state management from several viewpoints. For the page author, state
management happens transparently. For the app assembler, state management can be configured to save the state in the
client or on the server by setting the ServletContext InitParameter named javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD to
either client or server. The value of this parameter directs the state management decisions made by the
implementation.
2.5.3.1 State Management Considerations for the Custom Component Author

Since the component developer cannot know what the state saving method will be at runtime, they must be aware of state
management. As shown in Section FIGURE 4-1 “The javax.faces.component package”, all JSF components implement
the StateHolder interface. As a consequence the standard components provide implementations of
PartialStateHolder to suit their needs. [P1-start-componentStateHolder]A custom component that extends
UIComponent directly, and does not extend any of the standard components, must implement
PartialStateHolder (or its older super-interface, StateHolder), manually. The helper class StateHelper
exists to simplify this process for the custom component author. [P1-end]Please see Section 3.2.5 “PartialStateHolder”
or Section 3.2.4 “StateHolder” for details.
A custom component that does extend from one of the standard components and maintains its own state, in addition to
the state maintained by the superclass must take special care to implement StateHolder or PartialStateHolder
correctly. [P1-start-saveState]Notably, calls to saveState() must not alter the state in any way.[P1-end] The subclass
is responsible for saving and restoring the state of the superclass. Consider this example. My custom component
represents a “slider” ui widget. As such, it needs to keep track of the maximum value, minimum value, and current
values as part of its state.

public class Slider extends UISelectOne {
protected Integer min = null;
protected Integer max = null;
protected Integer cur = null;
// ... details omitted

public Object saveState(FacesContext context) {
Object values[] = new Object[4];
values[0] = super.saveState(context);
values[1] = min;
values[2] = max;
values[3] = cur;
}
public void restoreState(FacesContext context, Object state) {

Object values[] = (Object {}) state; // guaranteed to succeed
super.restoreState(context, values[0]);
min = (Integer) values[1];
max = (Integer) values[2];
cur = (Integer) values[3];
}
Note that we call super.saveState() and super.restoreState() as appropriate. This is absolutely vital!
Failing to do this will prevent the component from working.
2.5.3.2 State Management Considerations for the JSF Implementor

The intent of the state management facility is to make life easier for the page author, app assembler, and component
author. However, the complexity has to live somewhere, and the JSF implementor is the lucky role. Here is an overview
of the key players. Please see the javadocs for each individual class for more information.
Key Players in State Management

? StateHelper the helper class that defines a Map-like contract that makes it easier for components to implement
PartialStateHolder.
? ViewHandler the entry point to the state management system. Uses a helper class, StateManager, to do the
actual work. In the JSP case, delegates to the tag handler for the <f:view> tag for some functionality.
? StateManager abstraction for the hard work of state saving. Uses a helper class, ResponseStateManager, for
the rendering technology specific decisions.
? ResponseStateManager abstraction for rendering technology specific state management decisions.
? UIComponent directs process of saving and restoring individual component state.

2.5.4 Resource Handling
This section only applies to pages written using Facelets for JSF 2 and later. Section 2.6 “Resource Handling” is the
starting point for the normative specification for Resource Handling. This section gives a non-normative overview of the
feature. The following steps walk through the points in the lifecycle where this feature is encountered. Consider a Faces
web application that contains resources that have been packaged into the application as specified in Section 2.6.1
“Packaging Resources”. Assume each page in the application includes references to resources, specifically scripts and
stylesheets. The first diagram in this chapter is helpful in understanding this example.
Consider an initial request to the application.

? The ViewHandler calls ViewDeclarationLanguage.buildView(). This ultimately causes the
processEvent() method for the javax.faces.resource.Script and
javax.faces.resource.Stylesheet renderers (which implement ComponentSystemEventListener)
to be called after each component that declares them as their renderer is added to the view. This method is specified
to take actions that cause the resource to be rendered at the correct part in the page based on user-specified or
application invariant rules. Here’s how it works.
Every UIComponent instance in a view is created with a call to some variant of
Application.createComponent(). The specification for this method now includes some annotation
processing requirements. If the component or its renderer has an @ListenerFor or @ListenersFor annotation,
and the Script and Stylesheet renderers must, the component or its renderer are added as a component scoped
listener for the appropriate event. In the case of Script and Stylesheet renderers, they must listen for the
PostAddToViewEvent.
When the processEvent() method is called on a Script or Stylesheet renderer, the renderer takes the
specified action to move the component to the proper point in the tree based on what kind of resource it is, and on
what hints the page author has declared on the component in the view.
? The ViewHandler calls ViewDeclarationLanguage.renderView(). The view is traversed as normal and
because the components with Script and Stylesheet renderers have already been reparented to the proper place
in the view, the normal renderering causes the resource to be encoded as described in Section 2.6.2 “Rendering
Resources”.
The browser then parses the completely rendered page and proceeds to issue subsequent requests for the resources
included in the page.
Now consider a request from the browser for one of those resources included in the page.
? The request comes back to the Faces server. The FacesServlet is specified to call
ResourceHandler.isResourceRequest() as shown in the diagram in Section 2.1.2 “Faces Request
Generates Faces Response”. In this case, the method returns true. The FacesServlet is specified to call
ResourceHandler.handleResourceRequest() to serve up the bytes of the resource.
2.5.5 View Parameters

This section only applies to pages written using Facelets for JSF 2 and later. The normative specification for this feature
is spread out across several places, including the View Declaration Language Documentation for the <f:metadata>
element, the javadocs for the UIViewParameter, ViewHandler, and ViewDeclarationLanguage classes, and
the spec language requirements for the default NavigationHandler and the Request Processing Lifecycle. This leads
to a very diffuse field of specification requirements. To aid in understanding the feature, this section provides a non-
normative overview of the feature. The following steps walk through the points in the lifecycle where this feature is
encountered. Consider a web application that uses this feature exclusively on every page. Therefore every page has the
following features in common.
? Every page has an <f:metadata> tag, with at least one <f:viewParameter> element within it.
? Every page has at least one <h:link> or <h:button> with the appropriate parameters nested within it.
? No other kind of navigation components are used in the application.
Consider an initial request to the application.

? As specified in section Section 2.2.1 “Restore View”, the restore view phase of the request processing lifecycle
detects that this is an initial request and tries to obtain the ViewDeclarationLanguage instance from the
ViewHandler for this viewId. Because every page in the app is written in Facelets for JSF 2.0, there is a
ViewDeclarationLanguage instance. Restore view phase calls
ViewDeclarationLanguage.getViewMetadata(). Because every view in this particular app does have
<f:metadata> on every page, this method returns a ViewMetadata instance. Restore view phase calls
MetaData.createMetadataView(). This method creates a UIViewRoot containing only children declared in
the <f:metadata> element. Restore view phase calls ViewMetadata.getViewParameters(). Because
every <f:metadata> in the app has at least one <f:viewParameter> element within it, this method returns a
non empty Collection<UIViewParameter>. Restore view phase uses this fact to decide that the lifecycle must
not skip straight to render response, as is the normal action taken on initial requests.
? The remaining phases of the request processing lifecycle execute: apply request values, process validations, update
model values, invoke application, and finally render response. Because the view only contains UIViewParameter
children, only these children are traversed during the lifecycle, but because this is an initial request, with no query
parameters, none of these compnents take any action during the lifecycle.
? Because the pages exclusively use <h:link> and <h:button> for their navigation, the renderers for these
components are called during the rendering of the page. As specified in the renderkit docs for the renderers for those
components, markup is rendered that causes the browser to issue a GET request with query parameters.
Consider when the user clicks on a link in the application. The browser issues a GET request with query parameters
? Restore view phase takes the same action as in the previously explained request. Because this is a GET request, no
state is restored from the previous request.
? Because this is a request with query parameters, the UIViewParameter children do take action when they are
traversed during the normal lifecycle, reading values during the apply request values phase, doing conversion and
processing validators attached to the <f:viewParam> elements, if any, and updating models during the update
model values phase. Because there are only <h:link> and <h:button> navigation elements in the page, no action
action will happen during the invoke application phase. The response is re-rendered as normal. In such an application,
the only navigation to a new page happens by virtue of the browser issuing a GET request to a different viewId.
2.5.6 Bookmarkability
Prior to JSF 2, every client server interaction was an HTTP POST. While this works fine in many situations, it does not
work well when it comes to bookmarking pages in a web application. Version 2 of the specification introduces
bookmarking capability with the use of two new Standard HTML RenderKit additions.
Provided is a new component (UIOutcomeTarget) that provides properties that are used to produce a hyperlink at render
time. The component can appear in the form of a button or a link. This feature introduces a concept known as
“preemptive navigation”, which means the target URL is determined at Render Response time - before the user has
activated the component. This feature allows the user to leverage the navigation model while also providing the ability to
generate bookmarkable non-faces requests.
2.5.7 JSR 303 Bean Validation

Version 2 of the specification introduces support for JSR 303 Bean Validation. [p1-beanValidationRequired]A JSF
implentation must support JSR 303 Bean Validation if the environment in which the JSF runtime is included requires
JSR 303 Bean Validation. Currently the only such environment is when JSF is included in a Java EE 6 runtime.[p1-end]
A detailed description of the usage of Bean Validation with JSF is beyond the scope of this section, but this section will
provide a brief overview of the feature, touching on the points of interest to a spec implementor. Consider a simple web
application that has one page, written in Facelets for JSF 2, that has a several text fields inside of a form. This

application is running in a JSF runtime in an environment that does require JSR 303 Bean Validation, and therefore this
feature is available. Assume that every text field is bound to a managed bean property that has at least one Bean
Validation constraint annotation attached to it.
During the render response phase that always precedes a postback, due to the specification requirements in Section 3.5.3
“Validation Registration”, every UIInput in this application has an instance of Validator with id
javax.faces.Bean attached to it.
During the process validations phase, due to the specification for the validate() method of this Validator, Bean
Validation is invoked automatically, for the user specified validation constraints, whenever such components are
normally validated. The javax.faces.Bean standard validator also ensures that every ConstraintViolation
that resulted in attempting to validate the model data is wrapped in a FacesMessage and added to the
FacesContext as normal with every other kind of validator.
See also Section 3.5.6 “Bean Validation Integration”.
2.5.8 Ajax
JSF and Ajax have been working well together for a number of years. this has led to the sprouting of many JSF Ajax
frameworks. Although many of these frameworks may appear different, they all contribute to a dynamic request response
experience. The variations in the way these frameworks provide that experience causes component compatibility
problems when using components from different libraries together in the same web application.
JSF 2 introduces Ajax into the specification, and it builds upon important concepts from a variety of existing JSF Ajax
frameworks. The specification introduces a JavaScript library for performing basic Ajax operations. The library helps
define a standard way of sending an Ajax request, and processing an Ajax response, since these are problem areas for
component compatability. The specification provides two ways of adding Ajax to JSF web applications. Page authors
may use the JavaScript library directly in their pages by attaching the Ajax request call to a JSF component via a
JavaScript event (such as onclick). They may also take a more declarative aproach and use a core Facelets tag (<f:ajax/>)
that they can nest within JSF components to “Ajaxify” them. It is also possible to “Ajaxify” regions of a page by
“wrapping” the tag around component groups.
The server side aspects of JSF Ajax frameworks work with the standard JSF lifecycle. In addition to providing a standard
page authoring experience, the specification also standardizes the server side processing of Ajax requests. Selected
components in a JSF view can be priocessed (known as partial processing) and selected components can be rendered to
the client (known as partial rendering).
2.5.9 Component Behaviors

The JSF 2 specification introduces a new type of attached object known as component behaviors. Component behaviors
play a similar role to converters and validators in that they are attached to a component instance in order to enhance the
component with additional functionality not defined by the component itself. While converters and validators are
currently limited to the server-side request processing lifecycle, component behaviors have impact that extends to the
client, within the scope of a particular instance component in a view. In particular, the ClientBehavior interface
defines a contract for behaviors that can enhance a component's rendered content with behavior-defined "scripts". These
scripts are executed on the client in response to end user interaction, but can also trigger postbacks back into the JSF
request processing lifecycle.
The usage pattern for client behaviors is as follows:

? The page author attaches a client behavior to a component, typically by specifying a behavior tag as a child of a
component tag.
? When attaching a client behavior to a component, the page author identifies the name of a client "event" to attach to.
The set of valid events are defined by the component.
? At render time, the component (or renderer) retrieves the client behavior and asks it for its script.

? The component (or renderer) renders this script at the appropriate location in its generated content (eg. typically in a
DOM event handler).
? When the end user interacts with the component's content in the browser, the behavior-defined script is executed in
response to the page author-specified event.
? The script provides some client-side interaction, for example, hiding or showing content or validating input on the
client, and possibly posts back to the server.
The first client behavior provided by the JSF specification is the AjaxBehavior. This behavior is exposed to a page
author as a Facelets <f:ajax> tag, which can be embedded within any of the standard HTML components as follows:
<h:commandButton>
<f:ajax event="mouseover"/>
</h:commandButton>
When activated in response to end user activity, the <f:ajax> client behavior generates an Ajax request back into the
JSF request processing lifecycle.
The component behavior framework is extensible and allows developers to define custom behaviors and also allows
component authors to enhance custom components to work with behaviors.
2.5.10 System Events

System Events are normatively specified in Section 3.4.3 “System Events”. This section provides an overview of this
feature as it relates to the lifecycle.
System events expand on the idea of lifecycle PhaseEvents. With PhaseEvents, it is possible to have application
scoped PhaseListeners that are given the opportunity to act on the system before and after each phase in the
lifecycle. System events provide a much more fine grained insight into the system, allowing application or component
scoped listeners to be notified of a variety of kinds of events. The set of events supported in the core specification is
given in Section 3.4.3.1 “Event Classes”. To accomodate extensibility, users may define their own kinds of events.
The system event feature is a simple publish/subscribe event model. There is no event queue, events are published
immediately, and always with a call to Application.publishEvent(). There are several ways to declare interest
in a particular kind of event.
? Call Application.subscribeToEvent() to add an application scoped listener.
? Call UIComponent.subscribeToEvent() to add a component scoped listener.
? Use the <f:event> tag to declare a component scoped listener.
? Use the @ListenerFor or @ListenersFor annotation. The scope of the listener is determined by the code that
processes the annotation.
? Use the <system-event-listener> element in an application configuration resource to add an application
scoped listener.
This feature is conceptually related to the lifecycle because there are calls to Application.publishEvent()
sprinkled throughout the code that gets executed when the lifecycle runs.

2.6 Resource Handling
As shown in the diagram in Section 2.1.2 “Faces Request Generates Faces Response”, [P1-start isResourceRequest rules]
the JSF run-time must determine if the current Faces Request is a Faces Resource Request or a View Request. This must
be accomplished by calling Application.getResourceHandler().isResourceRequest(). [P1-end] Most
of the normative specification for resource handling is contained in the Javadocs for ResourceHandler and its related
classes. This section contains the specification for resource handling that fits best in prose, rather than in Javadocs.
2.6.1 Packaging Resources

ResourceHandler defines a path based packaging convention for resources. The default implementation of
ResourceHandler must support packaging resources in the web application root or in the classpath, according to the
following specification.Other implementations of ResourceHandler are free to package resources however they like.
2.6.1.1 Packaging Resources into the Web Application Root

[P1-start web app packaging ] The default implementation must support packaging resources in the web application root
under the path
resources/<resourceIdentifier>
relative to the web app root. Resources packaged into the web app root must be accessed using the getResource*()
methods on ExternalContext.[P1-end]
2.6.1.2 Packaging Resources into the Classpath

[P1-start classpath packaging ]For the default implementation, resources packaged in the classpath must reside under the
JAR entry name:
META-INF/resources/<resourceIdentifier>
Resources packaged into the classpath must be accessed using the getResource*() methods of the ClassLoader
obtained by calling the getContextClassLoader() method of the curreth Thread.[P1-end]
2.6.1.3 Resource Identifiers

<resourceIdentifier> consists of several segments, specified as follows.
[P1-start requirements for something to be considered a valid resourceIdentifier]
[localePrefix/][libraryName/][libraryVersion/]resourceName[/resourceVersion]
The run-time must enforce the following rules to consider a <resourceIdentifier> valid. A
<resourceIdentifier> that does not follow these rules must not be considered valid and must be ignored silently.
? The set of characters that are valid for use in the localePrefix, libraryName, libraryVerison,
resourceName and resourceVersion segments of the resource identifier is specififed as XML NameChar
excluding the path separator and ‘:’ characters. The specification for XML NameChar may be seen at
http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml/#NT-NameChar.

? A further restriction applies to libraryName. A libraryName must not be an underscore separated sequence of
non-negative integers or a locale string. More rigorously, a libraryName must not match either of the following
regular expressions:
? [0-9]+(_[0-9]+)*
? [A-Za-z]{2}(_[A-Za-z]{2}(_[A-Za-z]+)*)?
? Segments in square brackets [] are optional.
? The segments must appear in the order shown above.
? If libraryVersion is present, it must be preceded by libraryName.
? If libraryVersion is present, any leaf files under libraryName must be ignored.
? If resourceVersion is present, it must be preceded by resourceName.
? There must be a ’/’ between adjacent segments in a <resourceIdentifier>
? If libraryVersion or resourceVersion are present, both must be a ’_’ separated list of integers, neither starting nor
ending with ’_’
? If resourceVersion is present, it must be a version number in the same format as libraryVersion. An optional “file
extension” may be used with the resourceVersion. If “file extension” is used, a “.” character, followed by a “file
extension” must be appended to the version number. See the following table for an example.
[P1-end]
The following examples illustrate the nine valid combinations of the above resource identifier segments.
library
resource
localePrefx libraryName Version resourceName
Version Description actual resourceIdentifier
[optional] [optional] [optional [required]
[optional]
]
A non-localized, non-
versioned image
duke.gif resource called duke.gif
"duke.gif", not in a
library
versioned image
resource called
corporate duke.gif corporate/duke.gif
"duke.gif" in a
library called
"corporate"
versioned image
resource called
corporate 2_3 duke.gif corporate/2_3/duke.gif
"duke.gif", in version
2_3 of the
"corporate" library
A non-localized, version
1.3.4 script resource
basic 2_3 script.js 1_3_4.js called "script.js", in basic/2_3/script.js/1_3_4.js
versioned 2_3
library called "basic".
A non-versioned style
resource called
de header.css de/header.css
"header.css"
localized for locale "de"
Version 1_4_2 of style
resource
de_AT footer.css 1_4_2.css "footer.css", de_AT/footer.css/1_4_2.css
localized for locale
"de_AT"

Version 2_4 of style
resource called, "menu-
menu- bar.css" in non-
zh extraFancy 2_4.css zh/extraFancy/menu-bar.css/2_4.css
bar.css versioned library,
"extraFancy",
localized for locale "zh"
Non-versioned script
resource called,
ajaxTransa "ajaxTransaction.
ja mild 0_1 ja/mild/0_1/ajaxTransaction.js
ction.js js", in version 0_1 of
library called "mild",
localized for locale "ja"
Version 1_0 of image
resource called
"bg.png", in version
de_ch grassy 1_0 bg.png 1_0.png de_ch/grassy/1_0/bg.png/1_0.png
1_0 of library called
"grassy" localized for
locale "de_ch"
2.6.1.4 Libraries of Localized and Versioned Resources

An important feature of the resource handler is the ability for resources to be localized, versioned, and collected into
libraries. The localization and versioning scheme is completely hidden behind the API of ResourceHandler and
Resource and is not exposed in any way to the JSF run-time.
[P1-start resource versioning] The default implementation of ResourceHandler.createResource(), for all

variants of that method, must implement the following to discover which actual resource will be encapsulated within the
returned Resource instance. An implementation may perform caching of the resource metadata to improve
performance if the ProjectStage is ProjectStage.Production.
Using the resourceName and libraryName arguments to createResource(), and the resource packaging scheme
specified in Section 2.6.1.1 “Packaging Resources into the Web Application Root”, Section 2.6.1.2 “Packaging
Resources into the Classpath”, and Section 2.6.1.3 “Resource Identifiers”, discover the file or entry that contains the
bytes of the resource. If there are multiple versions of the same library, and libraryVersion is not specified, the library
with the highest version is chosen. If there are multiple versions of the same resource, and resourceVersion is not
specified, the resource with the highest version is chosen. The algorithm is specified in pseudocode.
function createResource(resourceName, libraryName) {
var resource = null;
var resourceId = null;
for (var contract : getLibraryContracts()) {
resourceId = deriveResourceIdConsideringResourceLoaders(contract, resourceName,
libraryName)
if (null != resourceId) {
resource = create the resource using the resourceId;
return resource;
}
}
// try without a contract

resourceId = deriveResourceIdConsideringResourceLoaders(null, resourceName,
libraryName)
if (null != resourceId) {
resource = create the resource using the resourceId;
}
return resource;
}
function deriveResourceIdConsideringResourceLoaders(contract, resourceName, libraryName)

{
var prefix = web app root resource prefix;

var resourceLoader = web app resource loader;
// these are shorthand for the prefix and resource loading
// facility specified in Section 2.6.1.1. They are
// not actual API per se.
var resourceId = deriveResourceIdConsideringLocalePrefix(contract, prefix,
resourceLoader, resourceName, libraryName);
if (null == resourceId) {
prefix = classpath resource prefix;
resourceLoader = classpath resource loader;
// these are shorthand for the prefix and resource
// loading facility specified in Section 2.6.1.2. They are
// not actual API per se.
resourceId = deriveResourceIdConsideringLocalePrefix(contract, prefix,
resourceLoader, resourceName, libraryName);
}
return resourceId;
}
function deriveResourceIdConsideringLocalePrefix(contract, prefix, resourceLoader,

resourceName, libraryName) {
var localePrefix = getLocalePrefix();
var result = deriveResourceId(contract, prefix, resourceLoader, resourceName,
libraryName, localePrefix);
// If the application has been configured to have a localePrefix, and the resource
// is not found, try to find it again, without the localePrefix.
if (null == result && null != localePrefix) {
result = deriveResourceId(contract, prefix, resourceLoader, resourceName,
libraryName, null);
}
return result;
}
function deriveResourceId(contract, prefix, resourceLoader,

resourceName, libraryName, localePrefix) {
var resourceVersion = null;
var libraryVersion = null;
var resourceId;
if (null != localePrefix) {
prefix = localePrefix + '/' + prefix;
}
if (null != contract) {
prefix = contract + '/' + prefix;
}
if (null != libraryName) {
// actual argument is resourcesInContractInJar/resources/resourcesInContractInJar
var libraryPaths = resourceLoader.getResourcePaths(
prefix + '/' + libraryName);
if (null != libraryPaths && !libraryPaths.isEmpty()) {

libraryVersion = // execute the comment
// Look in the libraryPaths for versioned libraries.
// If one or more versioned libraries are found, take
// the one with the highest version number as the value
// of libraryVersion. If no versioned libraries
// are found, let libraryVersion remain null.
}

if (null != libraryVersion) {
libraryName = libraryName + '/' + libraryVersion;
}
var resourcePaths = resourceLoader.getResourcePaths(
prefix + '/' + libraryName + '/' + resourceName);
if (null != resourcePaths && !resourcePaths.isEmpty()) {
resourceVersion = // execute the comment
// Look in the resourcePaths for versioned resources.
// If one or more versioned resources are found, take
// the one with the â€œhighestâ€? version number as the value
// of resourceVersion. If no versioned libraries
// are found, let resourceVersion remain null.
}
if (null != resourceVersion) {
resourceId = prefix + '/' + libraryName + '/' +
resourceName + '/' + resourceVersion;
}
else {
resourceId = prefix + '/' + libraryName + '/' + resourceName;
}
} // end of if (null != libraryName)
else {
// libraryName == null
var resourcePaths = resourceLoader.getResourcePaths(
prefix + '/' + resourceName);
if (null != resourcePaths && !resourcePaths.isEmpty()) {
resourceVersion = // execute the comment
// Look in the resourcePaths for versioned resources.
// If one or more versioned resources are found, take
// the one with the â€œhighestâ€? version number as the value
// of resourceVersion. If no versioned libraries
// are found, let resourceVersion remain null.
}
if (null != resourceVersion) {
resourceId = prefix + '/' + resourceName + '/' +
resourceVersion;
} else {
resourceId = prefix + '/' + resourceName;
}
} // end of else, when libraryName == null
return resourceId;
}
function getLocalePrefix() {
var localePrefix;
var appBundleName = facesContext.application.messageBundle;
if (null != appBundleName) {
var locale =
// If there is a viewRoot on the current facesContext, use its locale.
// Otherwise, use the locale of the application's ViewHandler
ResourceBundle appBundle = ResourceBundle.getBundle(
appBundleName, locale);
localePrefix = appBundle.getString(ResourceHandler. LOCALE_PREFIX);
}
// Any MissingResourceException instances that are encountered
// in the above code must be swallowed by this method, and null
// returned;
return localePrefix;
}
[P1-end]

2.6.2 Rendering Resources
Resources such as images, stylesheets and scripts use the resource handling mechanism as outlined in Section 2.6.1
“Packaging Resources”. So, for example:
<h:graphicImage name=”Planets.gif” library=”images”/>

<h:graphicImage value=”#{resource[‘images:Planets.gif’]}”/>
These entries render exactly the same markup. In addition to using the name and library attributes, stylesheet and
script resources can be “relocated” to other parts of the view. For example, we could specify that a script resource be
rendered within an HTML “head”, “body” or “form” element in the page.
2.6.2.1 Relocatable Resources

Relocatable resources are resources that can be told where to render themselves, and this rendered location may be
different than the resource tag placement in the view. For example, a portion of the view may be described in the view
declaration language as follows:
<f:view contentType="text/html">
<h:head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
charset=iso-8859-1" />
<title>Example View</title>
</h:head>
<h:body>
<h:form>
<h:outputScript name=”ajax.js” library=”javax.faces”
target=”head”/>
</h:form>
</h:body>
</f:view>
The <h:outputScript> tag refers to the renderer, ScriptRenderer, that listens for PostAddToViewEvent event
types:
@ListenerFor(facesEventClass=PostAddToViewEvent.class,
sourceClass=UIOutput.class)
public class ScriptRenderer extends Renderer implements
ComponentSystemEventListener {...
Refer to Section 3.4 “Event and Listener Model”. When the component for this resource is added to the view, the
ScriptRenderer processEvent method adds the component to a facet (named by the target attribute) under the
view root. using the UIViewRoot component resource methods as described in Section 4.1.19.3 “Methods”.
The <h:head> and <h:body> tags refer to the renderers HeadRenderer and BodyRenderer respectively. They are described
in the Standard HTML Renderkit documentation referred to in Section 8.6 “Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation”.
During the rendering phase, the encode methods for these renderers render the HTML “head” and “body” elements
respectively. Then they render all component resources under the facet child (named by target) under the UIViewRoot
using the UIViewRoot component resource methods as described in Section 4.1.19.3 “Methods”.

Existing component libraries (with existing head and body components), that want to use this resource loading feature must
follow the rendering requirements described in Section 8.6 “Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation”.
2.6.2.2 Resource Rendering Using Annotations

Components and renderers may be declared as requiring a resource using the @ResourceDependency annotation. The
implementation must scan for the presence of this annotation on the component that was added to the List of child
components. Check for the presence of the annotation on the renderer for this component (if there is a renderer for the
component). The annotation check must be done immediately after the component is added to the List. Refer to
Section 3.1.7 “Component Tree Manipulation”for detailed information.
2.7 Resource Library Contracts

[P1-start_contract_packaging]A resource library contract is a resource library, as specified in the preceding section,
except that instead of residing in the resources directory of the web-app root, or in the META-INF/resources
JAR entry name in a JAR file, it resides in the contracts directory of the web-app root, or in the META-
INF/contracts JAR entry name in a JAR file. When packaged in a JAR file, there is one additional packaging
requirement: each resource library contract in the JAR must have a marker file. The name of the file is given by the
value of the symbolic constant javax.faces.application.ResourceHandler.RESOURCE_CONTRACT_XML.
This may be a zero length file, though future versions of the specification may use the file to declare the usage contract.
[P1-end] The requirement to have a marker file enables implementations to optimize for faster deployment while still
enabling automatic discovery of the available contracts.
Following is a listing of the entries in a JAR file containing two resource library contracts.
META-INF/contracts/
siteLayout/
javax.faces.contract.xml
topNav_template.xhtml
leftNav_foo.xhtml
styles.css
script.js
background.png
subSiteLayout/
javax.faces.contract.xml
sub_template.xhtml
All of the other packaging, encoding and decoding requirements are the same as for resource libraries.
See Section 10.1.3 “Resource Library Contracts Background” for a non-normative overview of the feature, including a
brief usage example.

3
User Interface Component Model
A JSF user interface component is the basic building block for creating a JSF user interface. A particular component
represents a configurable and reusable element in the user interface, which may range in complexity from simple (such
as a button or text field) to compound (such as a tree control or table). Components can optionally be associated with
corresponding objects in the data model of an application, via value expressions.
JSF also supports user interface components with several additional helper APIs:
? Converters—Pluggable support class to convert the markup value of a component to and from the corresponding type
in the model tier.
? Events and Listeners—An event broadcast and listener registration model based on the design patterns of the
JavaBeans Specification, version 1.0.1.
? Validators—Pluggable support classes that can examine the local value of a component (as received in an incoming
request) and ensure that it conforms to the business rules enforced by each Validator. Error messages for validation
failures can be generated and sent back to the user during rendering.
The user interface for a particular page of a JSF-based web application is created by assembling the user interface
components for a particular request or response into a view. The view is a tree of classes that implement UIComponent.
The components in the tree have parent-child relationships with other components, starting at the root element of the
tree, which must be an instance of UIViewRoot. Components in the tree can be anonymous or they can be given a
component identifier by the framework user. Components in the tree can be located based on component identifiers,
which must be unique within the scope of the nearest ancestor to the component that is a naming container. For complex
rendering scenarios, components can also be attached to other components as facets.
This chapter describes the basic architecture and APIs for user interface components and the supporting APIs.
3.1 UIComponent and UIComponentBase

The base abstract class for all user interface components is javax.faces.component.UIComponent. This class
defines the state information and behavioral contracts for all components through a Java programming language API,
which means that components are independent of a rendering technology such as JavaServer Pages (JSP). A standard set
of components (described in Chapter 4 “Standard User Interface Components”) that add specialized properties, attributes,
and behavior, is also provided as a set of concrete subclasses.
Component writers, tool providers, application developers, and JSF implementors can also create additional
UIComponent implementations for use within a particular application. To assist such developers, a convenience
subclass, javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase, is provided as part of JSF. This class provides useful
default implementations of nearly every UIComponent method, allowing the component writer to focus on the unique
characteristics of a particular UIComponent implementation.
The following subsections define the key functional capabilities of JSF user interface components.
Chapter 3 User Interface Component Model 3-1

3.1.1 Component Identifiers
public String getId();
public void setId(String componentId);
[N/T-start may-component-identifier] Every component may be named by a component identifier that must conform to
the following rules:
? They must start with a letter (as defined by the Character.isLetter() method).
? Subsequent characters must be letters (as defined by the Character.isLetter() method), digits as defined by
the Character.isDigit() method, dashes (‘-’), or underscores (‘_’).
[P1-end] To minimize the size of responses generated by JavaServer Faces, it is recommended that component identifiers
be as short as possible.
If a component has been given an identifier, it must be unique in the namespace of the closest ancestor to that component
that is a NamingContainer (if any).
3.1.2 Component Type

While not a property of UIComponent, the component-type is an important piece of data related to each
UIComponent subclass that allows the Application instance to create new instances of UIComponent subclasses
with that type. Please see Section 7.1.12 “Object Factories” for more on component-type.
Component types starting with “javax.faces.” are reserved for use by the JSF specification.
3.1.3 Component Family

public String getFamily();
Each standard user interface component class has a standard value for the component family, which is used to look up
renderers associated with this component. Subclasses of a generic UIComponent class will generally inherit this property
from its superclass, so that renderers who only expect the superclass will still be able to process specialized subclasses.
Component families starting with “javax.faces.” are reserved for use by the JSF specification.
3.1.4 ValueExpression properties

Properties and attributes of standard concrete component classes may be value expression enabled. This means that,
rather than specifying a literal value as the parameter to a property or attribute setter, the caller instead associates a
ValueExpression (see Section 5.8.3 “ValueBinding”) whose getValue() method must be called (by the property
getter) to return the actual property value to be returned if no value has been set via the corresponding property setter. If
a property or attribute value has been set, that value must be returned by the property getter (shadowing any associated
value binding expression for this property).

Value binding expressions are managed with the following method calls:
public ValueExpression getValueExpression(String name);
public void setValueExpression(String name, ValueExpression

expression);
where name is the name of the attribute or property for which to establish the value expression. [P1-start
setValueExpression rules] The implementation of setValueExpression must detemine if the expression is a literal by
calling ValueExpression.isLiteralText() on the expression argument. If the expression argument is
literal text, then ValueExpression.getValue() must be called on the expression argument. The result must be
used as the value argument, along with the name argument to this component’s getAttributes().put(name,
value) method call. [P1-end] [P1-start which properties are value expression enabled] For the standard component
classes defined by this specification, all attributes, and all properties other than id, parent, action, listener,
actionListener, valueChangeListener, and validator are value expression enabled. The action,
listener, actionListener, valueChangeListener, and validator attributes are method expression
enabled.[P1-end]
In previous versions of this specification, this concept was called “value binding”. Methods and classes referring to this
concept are deprecated, but remain implemented to preserve backwards compatibility.
public ValueBinding getValueBinding(String name);
public void setValueBinding(String name, ValueBinding binding);
Please consult the javadoc for these methods to learn how they are implemented in terms of the new “value expression”
concept.
3.1.5 Component Bindings

A component binding is a special value expression that can be used to facilitate “wiring up” a component instance to a
corresponding property of a JavaBean that is associated with the page, and wants to manipulate component instances
programatically. It is established by calling setValueExpression() (see Section 3.1.4 “ValueExpression
properties”) with the special property name binding.
The specified ValueExpression must point to a read-write JavaBeans property of type UIComponent (or
appropriate subclass). Such a component binding is used at two different times during the processing of a Faces Request:
? [P3-start how a component binding is used from a JSP page] When a component instance is first created (typically by
virtue of being referenced by a UIComponentELTag in a JSP page), the JSF implementation will retrieve the
ValueExpression for the name binding, and call getValue() on it. If this call returns a non-null
UIComponent value (because the JavaBean programmatically instantiated and configured a component already),
that instance will be added to the component tree that is being created. If the call returns null, a new component
instance will be created, added to the component tree, and setValue() will be called on the ValueExpression
(which will cause the property on the JavaBean to be set to the newly created component instance). [P3-end]
? [P1-start how a component binding is used when restoring the tree]When a component tree is recreated during the
Restore View phase of the request processing lifecycle, for each component that has a ValueExpression
associated with the name “binding”, setValue() will be called on it, passing the recreated component instance.
[P1-end]
Component bindings are often used in conjunction with JavaBeans that are dynamically instantiated via the Managed
Bean Creation facility (see Section 5.8.1 “VariableResolver and the Default VariableResolver”). If application
developers place managed beans that are pointed at by component binding expressions in any scope other than request

scope, the system cannot behave correctly. This is because placing it in a scope wider than request scope would require
thread safety, since UIComponent instances depend on running inside of a single thread. There are also potentially
negative impacts on memory management when placing a component binding in “session” or “view” scopes.
3.1.6 Client Identifiers

Client identifiers are used by JSF implementations, as they decode and encode components, for any occasion when the
component must have a client side name. Some examples of such an occasion are:
? to name request parameters for a subsequent request from the JSF-generated page.
? to serve as anchors for client side scripting code.
? to serve as anchors for client side accessibility labels.
public String getClientId(FacesContext context);

protected String getContainerClientId(FacesContext context);
The client identifier is derived from the component identifier (or the result of calling
UIViewRoot.createUniqueId() if there is not one), and the client identifier of the closest parent component that
is a NamingContainer according to the algorithm specified in the javadoc for UIComponent.getClientId().
The Renderer associated with this component, if any, will then be asked to convert this client identifier to a form
appropriate for sending to the client. The value returned from this method must be the same throughout the lifetime of
the component instance unless setId() is called, in which case it will be recalculated by the next call to
getClientId().
3.1.7 Component Tree Manipulation

public UIComponent getParent();
public void setParent(UIComponent parent);
Components that have been added as children of another component can identify the parent by calling the getParent
method. For the root node component of a component tree, or any component that is not part of a component tree,
getParent will return null. In some special cases, such as transient components, it is possible that a component in
the tree will return null from getParent(). The setParent() method should only be called by the List instance
returned by calling the getChildren() method, or the Map instance returned by calling the getFacets() method,
when child components or facets are being added, removed, or replaced.
public List<UIComponent> getChildren();
Return a mutable List that contains all of the child UIComponents for this component instance. [P1-start
requirements of UIComponent.getChildren() ] The returned List implementation must support all of the required and
optional methods of the List interface, as well as update the parent property of children that are added and removed, as
described in the Javadocs for this method. [P1-end] Note that the add() methods have a special requirement to cause
the PostAddToViewEvent method to be fired, as well as the processing of the ResourceDependency annotation.
See the javadocs for getChildren() for details.
public int getChildCount();

A convenience method to return the number of child components for this component. [P2-start
UIComponent.getChildCount requirements.] If there are no children, this method must return 0. The method must not
cause the creation of a child component list, so it is preferred over calling getChildren().size() when there are
no children. [P2-end]
3.1.8 Component Tree Navigation

public UIComponent findComponent(String expr);
Search for and return the UIComponent with an id that matches the specified search expression (if any), according to
the algorithm described in the Javadocs for this method.
public Iterator<UIComponent> getFacetsAndChildren();
Return an immutable Iterator over all of the facets associated with this component (in an undetermined order),
followed by all the child components associated with this component (in the order they would be returned by
getChildren())..
public boolean invokeOnComponent(FacesContext context, String

clientId, ContextCallback callback) throws FacesException;
Starting at this component in the view, search for the UIComponent whose getClientId() method returns a String
that exactly matches the argument clientId using the algorithm specified in the Javadocs for this method. If such a
UIComponent is found, call the invokeContextCallback() method on the argument callback passing the
current FacesContext and the found UIComponent. Upon normal return from the callback, return true to the caller.
If the callback throws an exception, it must be wrapped inside of a FacesException and re-thrown. If no such
UIComponent is found, return false to the caller.
Special consideration should be given to the implementation of invokeOnComponent() for UIComponent classes
that handle iteration, such as UIData. Iterating components manipulate their own internal state to handle iteration, and
doing so alters the clientIds of components nested within the iterating component. Implementations of
invokeOnComponent() must guarantee that any state present in the component or children is restored before
returning. Please see the Javadocs for UIData.invokeOnComponent() for details.
The ContextCallback interface is specified as follows..
public interface ContextCallback {

public void invokeContextCallback(FacesContext context,
UIComponent target);
Please consult the Javadocs for more details on this interface.
public static UIComponent getCurrentComponent(FacesContext

context);

Returns the UIComponent instance that is currently being processed.
public static UIComponent

getCurrentCompositeComponent(FacesContext context);
Returns the closest ancestor component relative to getCurrentComponent that is a composite component, or null if
no such component is exists.
public boolean visitTree(VisitContext context,

VisitCallback callback);
Uses the visit API introduced in version 2 of the specification to perform a flexible and customizable visit of the tree
from this instance and its children. Please see the package description for the package
javax.faces.component.visit for the normative specification.
3.1.9 Facet Management

JavaServer Faces supports the traditional model of composing complex components out of simple components via
parent-child relationships that organize the entire set of components into a tree, as described in Section 3.1.7
“Component Tree Manipulation”. However, an additional useful facility is the ability to define particular subordinate
components that have a specific role with respect to the owning component, which is typically independent of the parent-
child relationship. An example might be a “data grid” control, where the children represent the columns to be rendered
in the grid. It is useful to be able to identify a component that represents the column header and/or footer, separate from
the usual child collection that represents the column data.
To meet this requirement, JavaServer Faces components offer support for facets, which represent a named collection of
subordinate (but non-child) components that are related to the current component by virtue of a unique facet name that
represents the role that particular component plays. Although facets are not part of the parent-child tree, they participate
in request processing lifecycle methods, as described in Section 3.1.14 “Lifecycle Management Methods”.
public Map<String, UIComponent> getFacets();
Return a mutable Map representing the facets of this UIComponent, keyed by the facet name.
public UIComponent getFacet(String name);
A convenience method to return a facet value, if it exists, or null otherwise. If the requested facet does not exist, no
facets Map must not be created, so it is preferred over calling getFacets().get() when there are no Facets.
For easy use of components that use facets, component authors may include type-safe getter and setter methods that
correspond to each named facet that is supported by that component class. For example, a component that supports a
header facet of type UIHeader should have methods with signatures and functionality as follows:
public UIHeader getHeader() {

return ((UIHeader) getFacet(“header”);
}
public void setHeader(UIHeader header) {

getFacets().put(“header”, header);
}

3.1.10 Managing Component Behavior
UIComponentBase provides default implementations for the methods from the
javax.faces.component.behavior.BehaviorHolder interface. UIComponentBase does not implement
the javax.faces.component.behavior.BehaviorHolder interface, but it provides the default
implementations to simplify subclass implemenations. Refer to Section 3.7 “Component Behavior Model” for more
information.
public void addBehavior(String eventName, Behavior behavior)
This method attaches a Behavior to the component for the specified eventName. The eventName must be one
of the values in the Collection returned from getEventNames(). For example, it may be desired to have some
behavior defined when a “click” event occurs. The behavior could be some client side behavior in the form of a script
executing, or a server side listener executing.
public Collection<String> getEventNames()
Returns the logical event names that can be associated with behavior for the component.
public Map<String, List<Behavior>> getBehaviors()
Returns a Map defining the association of events and behaviors. They keys in the Map are event names.
public String getDefaultEventName()
Returns the default event name (if any) for the component.
3.1.11 Generic Attributes

public Map<String, Object> getAttributes();
The render-independent characteristics of components are generally represented as JavaBean component properties with
getter and setter methods (see Section 3.1.12 “Render-Independent Properties”). In addition, components may also be
associated with generic attributes that are defined outside the component implementation class. Typical uses of generic
attributes include:
? Specification of render-dependent characteristics, for use by specific Renderers.
? General purpose association of application-specific objects with components.
The attributes for a component may be of any Java programming language object type, and are keyed by attribute name
(a String). However, see Section 7.8.2 “State Saving Alternatives and Implications” for implications of your application’s
choice of state saving method on the classes used to implement attribute values.
Attribute names that begin with javax.faces are reserved for use by the JSF specification. Names that begin with
javax are reserved for definition through the Java Community Process. Implementations are not allowed to define
names that begin with javax.
[P1-start attribute property transparency rules] The Map returned by getAttributes() must also support attribute-
property transparency, which operates as follows:

? When the get() method is called, if the specified attribute name matches the name of a readable JavaBeans
property on the component implementation class, the value returned will be acquired by calling the appropriate
property getter method, and wrapping Java primitive values (such as int) in their corresponding wrapper classes (such
as java.lang.Integer) if necessary. If the specified attribute name does not match the name of a readable
JavaBeans property on the component implementation class, consult the internal data-structure to in which generic
attributes are stored. If no entry exists in the internal data-structure, see if there is a ValueExpression for this
attribute name by calling getValueExpression(), passing the attribute name as the key. If a
ValueExpression exists, call getValue() on it, returning the result. If an ELException is thrown wrap it in
a FacesException and re-throw it.
? When the put() method is called, if the specified attribute name matches the name of a writable JavaBeans property
on the component implementation class, the appropriate property setter method will be called. If the specified
attribute name does not match the name of a writable JavaBeans property, simply put the value in the data-structure
for generic attributes.
? When the remove() method is called, if the specified attribute name matches the name of a JavaBeans property on
the component, an IllegalArgumentException must be thrown.
? When the containsKey() method is called, if the specified attribute name matches the name of a JavaBeans
property, return false. Otherwise, return true if and only if the specified attribute name exists in the internal data-
structure for the generic attributes.
The Map returned by getAttributes() must also conform to the entire contract for the Map interface. [P1-end]
3.1.11.1 Special Attributes
UIComponent Constants
public static final String CURRENT_COMPONENT =

"javax.faces.component.CURRENT_COMPONENT";
This is used as a key in the FacesContext attributes Map to indicate the component that is currently being processed.
public static final String CURRENT_COMPOSITE_COMPONENT =

"javax.faces.component.CURRENT_COMPOSITE_COMPONENT";
This is used as a key in the FacesContext attributes Map to indicate the composite component that is currently being
processed.
public static final String BEANINFO_KEY =

"javax.faces.component.BEANINFO_KEY";
This is a key in the component attributes Map whose value is a java.beans.BeanInfo describing the composite
component.
public static final String FACETS_KEY =

"javax.faces.component.FACETS_KEY";

This is a key in the composite component BeanDescriptor whose value is a Map<PropertyDescriptor> that contains
meta-information for the declared facets for the composite component.
public static final String COMPOSITE_COMPONENT_TYPE_KEY =

"javax.faces.component.COMPOSITE_COMPONENT_TYPE";
This is a key in the composite component BeanDescriptor whose value is a ValueExpression that evaluates to the
component-type of the composite component root.
public static final String COMPOSITE_FACET_NAME =

"javax.faces.component.COMPOSITE_FACET_NAME";
This is a key in the Map<PropertyDescriptor> that is returned by using the key FACETS_KEY. The value of this
constant is also used as the key in the Map returned from getFacets(). In this case, the value of this key is the
facet (the UIPanel) that is the parent of all the components in the composite implementation section of the
composite component VDL file.
Refer to the javax.faces.component.UIComponent Javadocs for more detailed information.
3.1.12 Render-Independent Properties

The render-independent characteristics of a user interface component are represented as JavaBean component properties,
following JavaBeans naming conventions. Specifically, the method names of the getter and/or setter methods are
determined using standard JavaBeans component introspection rules, as defined by java.beans.Introspector.
The render-independent properties supported by all UIComponents are described in the following table:
Name Access Type Description
id RW String The component identifier, as described in Section 3.1.1

“Component Identifiers”.
parent RW UIComponent The parent component for which this component is a child or a
facet.
rendered RW boolean A flag that, if set to true, indicates that this component should be
processed during all phases of the request processing lifecycle. The
default value is “true”.
rendererType RW String Identifier of the Renderer instance (from the set of Renderer
instances supported by the RenderKit associated with the
component tree we are processing. If this property is set, several
operations during the request processing lifecycle (such as decode
and the encodeXxx family of methods) will be delegated to a
Renderer instance of this type. If this property is not set, the
component must implement these methods directly.
rendersChildr RO boolean A flag that, if set to true, indicates that this component manages
en the rendering of all of its children components (so the JSF
implementation should not attempt to render them). The default
implementation in UIComponentBase delegates this setting to
the associated Renderer, if any, and returns false otherwise.
transient RW boolean A flag that, if set to true, indicates that this component must not
be included in the state of the component tree. The default
implementation in UIComponentBase returns false for this
property.

The method names for the render-independent property getters and setters must conform to the design patterns in the
JavaBeans specification. See Section 7.8.2 “State Saving Alternatives and Implications” for implications of your
application’s choice of state saving method on the classes used to implement property values.
3.1.13 Component Specialization Methods

The methods described in this section are called by the JSF implementation during the various phases of the request
processing lifecycle, and may be overridden in a concrete subclass to implement specialized behavior for this component.
public boolean broadcast(FacesEvent event) throws

AbortProcessingException;
The broadcast() method is called during the common event processing (see Section 2.3 “Common Event
Processing”) at the end of several request processing lifecycle phases. For more information about the event and listener
model, see Section 3.4 “Event and Listener Model”. Note that it is not necessary to override this method to support
additional event types.
public void decode(FacesContext context);
This method is called during the Apply Request Values phase of the request processing lifecycle, and has the
responsibility of extracting a new local value for this component from an incoming request. The default implementation
in UIComponentBase delegates to a corresponding Renderer, if the rendererType property is set, and does
nothing otherwise.
Generally, component writers will choose to delegate decoding and encoding to a corresponding Renderer by setting
the rendererType property (which means the default behavior described above is adequate).
public void encodeAll(FacesContext context) throws IOException

public void encodeBegin(FacesContext context) throws IOException;
public void encodeChildren(FacesContext context) throws

IOException;
public void encodeEnd(FacesContext context) throws IOException;
These methods are called during the Render Response phase of the request processing lifecycle. encodeAll() will
cause this component and all its children and facets that return true from isRendered() to be rendered, regardless
of the value of the getRendersChildren() return value. encodeBegin(), encodeChildren(), and
encodeEnd()have the responsibility of creating the response data for the beginning of this component, this
component’s children (only called if the rendersChildren property of this component is true), and the ending of
this component, respectively. Typically, this will involve generating markup for the output technology being supported,
such as creating an HTML <input> element for a UIInput component. For clients that support it, the encode methods
might also generate client-side scripting code (such as JavaScript), and/or stylesheets (such as CSS). The default
implementations in UIComponentBase encodeBegin() and encodeEnd() delegate to a corresponding
Renderer, if the rendererType property is true, and do nothing otherwise. [P1-start-comp-special]The default
implementation in UIComponentBase encodeChildren() must iterate over its children and call encodeAll()
for each child component. encodeBegin() must publish a PreRenderComponentEvent.[P1-end]
Generally, component writers will choose to delegate encoding to a corresponding Renderer, by setting the
rendererType property (which means the default behavior described above is adequate).
public void queueEvent(FacesEvent event);

Enqueue the specified event for broadcast at the end of the current request processing lifecycle phase. Default behavior
is to delegate this to the queueEvent() of the parent component, normally resulting in broadcast via the default
behavior in the UIViewRoot lifecycle methods.
The component author can override any of the above methods to customize the behavior of their component.
3.1.14 Lifecycle Management Methods

The following methods are called by the various phases of the request processing lifecycle, and implement a recursive
tree walk of the components in a component tree, calling the component specialization methods described above for each
component. These methods are not generally overridden by component writers, but doing so may be useful for some
advanced component implementations. See the javadocs for detailed information on these methods
In order to support the “component” implicit object (See Section 5.6.2.1 “Implicit Object ELResolver for Facelets and
Programmatic Access”), the following methods have been added to UIComponent
protected void pushComponentToEL(FacesContext context);

protected void popComponentFromEL(FacesContext context)
pushComponentToEL() and popComponentFromEL() must be called inside each of the lifecycle management
methods in this section as specified in the javadoc for that method.
public void processRestoreState(FacesContext context, Object

state);
Perform the component tree processing required by the Restore View phase of the request processing lifecycle for all
facets of this component, all children of this component, and this component itself.
public void processDecodes(FacesContext context);
Perform the component tree processing required by the Apply Request Values phase of the request processing lifecycle
for all facets of this component, all children of this component, and this component itself
public void processValidators(FacesContext context);
Perform the component tree processing required by the Process Validations phase of the request processing lifecycle for
all facets of this component, all children of this component, and this component itself.
public void processUpdates(FacesContext context);
Perform the component tree processing required by the Update Model Values phase of the request processing lifecycle
for all facets of this component, all children of this component, and this component itself.
public void processSaveState(FacesContext context);
Perform the component tree processing required by the state saving portion of the Render Response phase of the request
processing lifecycle for all facets of this component, all children of this component, and this component itself.

3.1.15 Utility Methods
protected FacesContext getFacesContext();
Return the FacesContext instance for the current request.
protected Renderer getRenderer(FacesContext context);
Return the Renderer that is associated this UIComponent, if any, based on the values of the family and
rendererType properties currently stored as instance data on the UIComponent.
protected void addFacesListener(FacesListener listener);
protected void removeFacesListener(FacesListener listener);
These methods are used to register and deregister an event listener. They should be called only by a public
addXxxListener() method on the component implementation class, which provides typesafe listener registration.
public Map<String, String> getResourceBundleMap();
Return a Map of the ResourceBundle for this component. Please consult the Javadocs for
more information.
3.2 Component Behavioral Interfaces

In addition to extending UIComponent, component classes may also implement one or more of the behavioral
interfaces described below. Components that implement these interfaces must provide the corresponding method
signatures and implement the described functionality.
3.2.1 ActionSource
The ActionSource interface defines a way for a component to indicate that wishes to be a source of ActionEvent
events, including the ability invoke application actions (see Section 7.3 “Application Actions”) via the default
ActionListener facility (see Section 7.1.1 “ActionListener Property”).

3.2.1.1 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the ActionSource interface:
action RW MethodBindi DEPRECATED A MethodBinding (see

ng Section 5.8.4 “MethodBinding”) that must (if
non-null) point at an action method (see
Section 7.3 “Application Actions”). The
specified method will be called during the
Apply Request Values or Invoke Application
phase of the request processing lifecycle, as
described in Section 2.2.5 “Invoke
Application”. This method is replaced by the
actionExpression property on
ActionSource2. See the javadocs for the
backwards compatibility implementation
strategy.
actionListener RW MethodBinding DEPRECATED A MethodBinding (see
Section 5.8.4 “MethodBinding”) that (if non-
null) must point at a method accepting an
ActionEvent, with a return type of void.
Any ActionEvent that is sent by this
ActionSource will be passed to this method
along with the processAction() method of
any registered ActionListeners, in either
Apply Request Values or Invoke Application
phase, depending upon the state of the
immediate property. See the javadocs for the
backwards compatibility implementation
strategy.
immediate RW boolean A flag indicating that the default
ActionListener should execute
immediately (that is, during the Apply Request
Values phase of the request processing
lifecycle, instead of waiting for Invoke
Application phase). The default value of this
property must be false.
3.2.1.2 Methods
ActionSource adds no new processing methods.
3.2.1.3 Events
A component implementing ActionSource is a source of ActionEvent events. There are three important moments
in the lifetime of an ActionEvent:
? when an the event is created
? when the event is queued for later processing
? when the listeners for the event are notified

ActionEvent creation occurs when the system detects that the component implementing ActionSource has been
activated. For example, a button has been pressed. This happens when the decode() processing of the Apply Request
Values phase of the request processing lifecycle detects that the corresponding user interface control was activated.
ActionEvent queueing occurs immediately after the event is created.
Event listeners that have registered an interest in ActionEvents fired by this component (see below) are notified at the
end of the Apply Request Values or Invoke Application phase, depending upon the immediate property of the originating
UICommand.
ActionSource includes the following methods to register and deregister ActionListener instances interested in
these events. See Section 3.4 “Event and Listener Model” for more details on the event and listener model provided by
JSF.
public void addActionListener(ActionListener listener);
public void removeActionListener(ActionListener listener);
In addition to manually registered listeners, the JSF implementation provides a default ActionListener that will
process ActionEvent events during the Apply Request Values or Invoke Application phases of the request processing
lifecycle. See Section 2.2.5 “Invoke Application” for more information.
3.2.2 ActionSource2
The ActionSource2 interface extends ActionSource and provides a JavaBeans property analogous to the action
property on ActionSource. This allows the ActionSource concept to leverage the new Unified EL API.
3.2.2.1 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the ActionSource interface:
actionExpres RW javax.el.Me A MethodExpression (see Section 5.8.4

sion thodExpress “MethodBinding”) that must (if non-null)
ion point at an action method (see Section 7.3
“Application Actions”). The specified method
will be called during the Apply Request Values
or Invoke Application phase of the request
processing lifecycle, as described in
Section 2.2.5 “Invoke Application”.
3.2.2.2 Methods
ActionSource2 adds no new processing methods.
3.2.2.3 Events
ActionSource2 adds no new events.

3.2.3 NamingContainer
NamingContainer is a marker interface. Components that implement NamingContainer have the property that,
for all of their children that have non-null component identifiers, all of those identifiers are unique. This property is
enforced by the renderView() method on ViewHandler. In JSP based applications, it is also enforced by the
UIComponentELTag. Since this is just a marker interface, there are no properties, methods, or events. Among the
standard components, UIForm and UIData implement NamingContainer. See Section 4.1.4 “UIForm” and Section
4.1.3.3 “UIData” for details of how the NamingContainer concept is used in these two cases.
NamingContainer defines a public static final character constant, SEPARATOR_CHAR, that is used to separate
components of client identifiers, as well as the components of search expressions used by the findComponent()
method see (Section 3.1.8 “Component Tree Navigation”). The value of this constant must be a colon character (“:”).
Use of this separator character in client identifiers rendered by Renderers can cause problems with CSS stylesheets
that attach styles to a particular client identifier. For the Standard HTML RenderKit, this issue can be worked around by
using the style attribute to specify CSS style values directly, or the styleClass attribute to select CSS styles by
class rather than by identifier.
3.2.4 StateHolder
The StateHolder interface is implemented by UIComponent, Converter, FacesListener, and Validator
classes that need to save their state between requests. UIComponent implements this interface to denote that
components have state that must be saved and restored between requests.
3.2.4.1 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the StateHolder interface:
transient RW boolean A flag indicating whether this instance has

decided to opt out of having its state
information saved and restored. The default
value for all standard component, converter,
and validator classes that implement
StateHolder must be false.
3.2.4.2 Methods
Any class implementing StateHolder must implement both the saveState() and restoreState() methods,
since these two methods have a tightly coupled contract between themselves. In other words, if there is an inheritance
hierarchy, it is not permissible to have the saveState() and restoreState() methods reside at different levels of
the hierarchy.
public Object saveState(FacesContext context);

public void restoreState(FacesContext context, Object state)
throws IOException;
Gets or restores the state of the instance as a Serializable Object.

If the class that implements this interface has references to Objects which also implement StateHolder (such as a
UIComponent with a converter, event listeners, and/or validators) these methods must call the saveState() or
restoreState() method on all those instances as well.
Any class implementing StateHolder must have a public no-args constructor.
If the state saving method is server, these methods may not be called.
If the class that implements this interface has references to Objects which do not implement StateHolder, these
methods must ensure that the references are preserved. For example, consider class MySpecialComponent, which
implements StateHolder, and keeps a reference to a helper class, MySpecialComponentHelper, which does not
implement StateHolder. MySpecialComponent.saveState() must save enough information about
MySpecialComponentHelper, so that when MySpecialComponent.restoreState() is called, the reference
to MySpecialComponentHelper can be restored. The return from saveState() must be Serializable.
Since all of the standard user interface components listed in Chapter 4 “Standard User Interface Components” extend
from UIComponent, they all implement the StateHolder interface. In addition, the standard Converter and
Validator classes that require state to be saved and restored also implement StateHolder.
3.2.4.3 Events
StateHolder does not originate any standard events.
3.2.5 PartialStateHolder
PartialStateHolder extends StateHolder and adds a usage contract for components that wish to take part in
the partial state saving mechanism introduced in version 2.0. Implementations of this interface should use the
javax.faces.component.StateHelper instance returned from UIComponent.getStateHelper() to store
stateful component information that otherwise would have been stored as instance variables on the class implementing
PartialStateHolder.
3.2.5.1 Properties
PartialStateHolder adds no properties to the StateHolder contract
3.2.5.2 Methods
The following methods support the partial state saving feature:
void clearInitialState();
boolean initialStateMarked();
void markInitialState();
These methods allow the state saving feature to determine if the component is in its initial state or not, and to set the flag
indicating this condition of existence. The Javadocs for these methods specify the conditions under which these methods
are invoked.

3.2.5.3 Events
PartialStateHolder does not originate any standard events.
3.2.6 ValueHolder
ValueHolder is an interface that may be implemented by any concrete UIComponent that wishes to support a local
value, as well as access data in the model tier via a value expression, and support conversion between String
and the model tier data's native data type.
3.2.6.1 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the ValueHolder interface:
converter RW Converter The Converter (if any) that is registered for this
UIComponent.
value RW Object First consult the local value property of this
component. If non-null return it. If the local value
property is null, see if we have a
ValueExpression for the value property. If so,
return the result of evaluating the property,
otherwise return null.
localValue RO Object allows any value set by calling setValue() to be
returned, without potentially evaluating a
ValueExpression the way that getValue()
will do
Like nearly all component properties, the value property may have a value binding expression (see Section 3.1.4
“ValueExpression properties”) associated with it. If present (and if there is no value set directly on this component),
such an expression is utilized to retrieve a value dynamically from a model tier object during Render Response Phase of
the request processing lifecycle. In addition, for input components, the value expression is used during Update Model
Values phase (on the subsequent request) to push the possibly updated component value back to the model tier object.
The Converter property is used to allow the component to know how to convert the model type from the String
format provided by the Servlet API to the proper type in the model tier.
The Converter property must be inspected for the presence of ResourceDependency and
ResourceDependencies annotations as described in the Javadocs for the setConverter method.
3.2.6.2 Methods
ValueHolder adds no methods.
3.2.6.3 Events
ValueHolder does not originate any standard events.

3.2.7 EditableValueHolder
The EditableValueHolder interface (extends ValueHolder, see Section 3.2.6 “ValueHolder”) describes
additional features supported by editable components, including ValueChangeEvents and Validators.
3.2.7.1 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the EditableValueHolder interface:
immediate RW boolean Flag indicating that conversion and validation of this

component’s value should occur during Apply
Request Values phase instead of Process Validations
phase.
localValueS RW boolean Flag indicating whether the value property has
et been set.
required RW boolean Is the user required to provide a non-empty value
for this component? Default value must be false.
submittedVa RW Object The submitted, unconverted, value of this
lue component. This property should only be set by the
decode() method of this component, or its
corresponding Renderer, or by the validate method
of this component. This property should only be
read by the validate() method of this component.
valid RW boolean A flag indicating whether the local value of this
component is valid (that is, no conversion error or
validation error has occurred).
validator RW MethodBinding DEPRECATED A MethodBinding that (if not
null) must point at a method accepting a
FacesContext and a UIInput, with a return
type of void. This method will be called during
Process Validations phase, after any validators that
are externally registered. See the javadocs for the
backwards compatibility strategy.
valueChang RW MethodBinding DEPRECATED A MethodBinding that (if not null)
eListener must point at a method that accepts a
ValueChangeEvent, with a return type of void.
The specified method will be called during the
Process Validations phase of the request processing
lifecycle, after any externally registered
ValueChangeListeners. See the javadocs for
the backwards compatibility strategy.
3.2.7.2 Methods
The following methods support the validation functionality performed during the Process Validations phase of the
request processing lifecycle:
public void addValidator(Validator validator);
public void removeValidator(Validator validator);

The addValidator() and removeValidator() methods are used to register and deregister additional external
Validator instances that will be used to perform correctness checks on the local value of this component.
If the validator property is not null, the method it points at must be called by the processValidations()
method, after the validate() method of all registered Validators is called.
The addValidator ’s Validator argument must be inspected for the presense of the ResourceDependency and
ResourceDependencies annotations as described in the Javadocs for the addValidator method.
3.2.7.3 Events
EditableValueHolder is a source of ValueChangeEvent, PreValidateEvent and PostValidate events.
These are emitted during calls to validate(), which happens during the Process Validations phase of the request
processing lifecycle. The PreValidateEvent is published immediately before the component gets validated.
PostValidate is published after validation has occurred, regardless if the validation was successful or not. If the
validation for the component did pass successfully, and the previous value of this component differs from the current
value, the ValueChangeEvent is published. The following methods allow listeners to register and deregister for
ValueChangeEvents. See Section 3.4 “Event and Listener Model” for more details on the event and listener model
provided by JSF.
public void addValueChangeListener(ValueChangeListener listener);
public void removeValueChangeListener(ValueChangeListener

listener);
In addition to the above listener registration methods, If the valueChangeListener property is not null, the
method it points at must be called by the broadcast() method, after the processValueChange() method of all
registered ValueChangeListeners is called.
3.2.8 SystemEventListenerHolder
Classes that implement this interface agree to maintain a list of SystemEventListener instances for each kind of
SystemEvent they can generate. This interface enables arbitrary Objects to act as the source for SystemEvent
instances.
3.2.8.1 Properties
This interface contains no JavaBeans properties
3.2.8.2 Methods
The following method gives the JSF runtime access to the list of listeners stored by this instance.:
public List<FacesLifecycleListener>
getListenersForEventClass(Class<? extends SystemEvent>
facesEventClass);
During the processing for Application.publishEvent(), if the source argument to that method implements
SystemEventListenerHolder, the getListenersForEventClass() method is invoked on it, and each
listener in the list is given an opportunity to process the event, as specified in the javadocs for
Application.publishEvent().

3.2.8.3 Events
While the class that implements SystemEventListenerHolder is indeed a source of events, it is a call to
Application.publishEvent() that causes the event to actually be emitted. In the interest of maximum flexibility,
this interface does not define how listeners are added, removed, or stored. See Section 3.4 “Event and Listener Model”
for more details on the event and listener model provided by JSF.
3.2.9 ClientBehaviorHolder
[P1-start-addBehavior] Components must implement the ClientBehaviorHolder interface to add the ability for
attaching ClientBehavior instances (see Section 3.7 “Component Behavior Model”). Components that extend
UIComponentBase only need to implement the getEventNames() method and specify "implements
ClientBehaviorHolder". UIComponentBase provides base implementations for all other methods. [P1-end] The concrete
HTML component classes that come with JSF implement the ClientBehaviorHolder interface.
public void addClientBehavior(String eventName, ClientBehavior

behavior);
Attach a ClientBehavior to a component implementing this ClientBehaviorHolder interface for the specified
event. A default implementation of this method is provided in UIComponentBase to make it easier for subclass
implementations to add behaviors.
public Collection<String> getEventNames();
Return a Collection of logical event names that are supported by the component implementing this
ClientBehaviorHolder interface. [P1-start-getEventNames]The Collection must be non null and
unmodifiable.[P1-end]
public Map<String, List<ClientBehavior>> getClientBehaviors();
Return a Map containing the event-client behavior association. Each event in the Map may contain one or more
ClientBehavior instances that were added via the addClientBehavior() method.
[P1-start-getBehaviors]Each key value in this Map must be one of the event names in the Collection returned from
getEventNames().[P1-end]
public String getDefaultEventName();
Return the default event name for this component behavior if the component defines a default event.

3.3 Conversion Model
This section describes the facilities provided by JavaServer Faces to support type conversion between server-side Java
objects and their (typically String-based) representation in presentation markup.
3.3.1 Overview
A typical web application must constantly deal with two fundamentally different viewpoints of the underlying data being
manipulated through the user interface:
? The model view—Data is typically represented as Java programming language objects (often JavaBeans components),
with data represented in some native Java programming language datatype. For example, date and time values might
be represented in the model view as instances of java.util.Date.
? The presentation view—Data is typically represented in some form that can be perceived or modified by the user of
the application. For example, a date or type value might be represented as a text string, as three text strings (one each
for month/date/year or one each for hour/minute/second), as a calendar control, associated with a spin control that lets
you increment or decrement individual elements of the date or time with a single mouse click, or in a variety of other
ways. Some presentation views may depend on the preferred language or locale of the user (such as the commonly
used mm/dd/yy and dd/mm/yy date formats, or the variety of punctuation characters in monetary amount
presentations for various currencies).
To transform data formats between these views, JavaServer Faces provides an ability to plug-in an optional Converter
for each ValueHolder, which has the responsibility of converting the internal data representation between the two
views. The application developer attaches a particular Converter to a particular ValueHolder by calling
setConverter, passing an instance of the particular converter. A Converter implementation may be acquired from
the Application instance (see Section 7.1.12 “Object Factories”) for your application.
3.3.2 Converter
JSF provides the javax.faces.convert.Converter interface to define the behavioral characteristics of a
Converter. Instances of implementations of this interface are either identified by a converter identifier, or by a class
for which the Converter class asserts that it can perform successful conversions, which can be registered with, and
later retrieved from, an Application, as described in Section 7.1.12 “Object Factories”.
Often, a Converter will be an object that requires no extra configuration information to perform its responsibilities.
However, in some cases, it is useful to provide configuration parameters to the Converter (such as a
java.text.DateFormat pattern for a Converter that supports java.util.Date model objects). Such
configuration information will generally be provided via JavaBeans properties on the Converter instance.
Converter implementations should be programmed so that the conversions they perform are symmetric. In other
words, if a model data object is converted to a String (via a call to the getAsString method), it should be possible to
call getAsObject and pass it the converted String as the value parameter, and return a model data object that is
semantically equal to the original one. In some cases, this is not possible. For example, a converter that uses the
formatting facilities provided by the java.text.Format class might create two adjacent integer numbers with no
separator in between, and in this case the Converter could not tell which digits belong to which number.
For UIInput and UIOutput components that wish to explicitly select a Converter to be used, a new Converter
instance of the appropriate type must be created, optionally configured, and registered on the component by calling
setConverter()1. Otherwise, the JSF implementation will automatically create new instances based on the data type
being converted, if such Converter classes have been registered. In either case, Converter implementations need not be
threadsafe, because they will be used only in the context of a single request processing thread.
1. In a JSP environment, these steps are performed by a custom tag extending ConverterTag.

The following two method signatures are defined by the Converter interface:
public Object getAsObject(FacesContext context, UIComponent

component, String value) throws ConverterException;
This method is used to convert the presentation view of a component’s value (typically a String that was received as a
request parameter) into the corresponding model view. It is called during the Apply Request Values phase of the request
public String getAsString(FacesContext context, UIComponent

component, Object value) throws ConverterException;
This method is used to convert the model view of a component’s value (typically some native Java programming
language class) into the presentation view (typically a String that will be rendered in some markup language. It is called
during the Render Response phase of the request processing lifecycle.
[P1-start-converter-resource]If the class implementing Converter has a ResourceDependency annotation or a

ResourceDependencies annotation, the action described in the Javadocs for the Converter interface must be
followed when ValueHolder.setConverter is called.[P1-end]
3.3.3 Standard Converter Implementations

JSF provides a set of standard Converter implementations. A JSF implementation must register the DateTime and
Number converters by name with the Application instance for this web application, as described in the table below.
This ensures that the converters are available for subsequent calls to Application.createConverter(). Each
concrete implementation class must define a static final String constant CONVERTER_ID whose value is the standard
converter id under which this Converter is registered.
[P1-start standard converters] The following converter id values must be registered to create instances of the specified
Converter implementation classes:
? javax.faces.BigDecimal -- An instance of javax.faces.convert.BigDecimalConverter (or a
subclass of this class).
? javax.faces.BigInteger -- An instance of javax.faces.convert.BigIntegerConverter (or a
subclass of this class).
? javax.faces.Boolean -- An instance of javax.faces.convert.BooleanConverter (or a subclass of
this class).
? javax.faces.Byte -- An instance of javax.faces.convert.ByteConverter (or a subclass of this class).
? javax.faces.Character -- An instance of javax.faces.convert.CharacterConverter (or a subclass
of this class).
? javax.faces.DateTime -- An instance of javax.faces.convert.DateTimeConverter (or a subclass of
this class).
? javax.faces.Double -- An instance of javax.faces.convert.DoubleConverter (or a subclass of this
class).
? javax.faces.Float -- An instance of javax.faces.convert.FloatConverter (or a subclass of this
class).
? javax.faces.Integer -- An instance of javax.faces.convert.IntegerConverter (or a subclass of
this class).
? javax.faces.Long -- An instance of javax.faces.convert.LongConverter (or a subclass of this class).
? javax.faces.Number -- An instance of javax.faces.convert.NumberConverter (or a subclass of this
class).

? javax.faces.Short -- An instance of javax.faces.convert.ShortConverter (or a subclass of this
class).
[P1-end] See the Javadocs for these classes for a detailed description of the conversion operations they perform, and the
configuration properties that they support.
[P1-start by-Class converters] A JSF implementation must register converters for all of the following classes using the
by-type registration mechanism:
? java.math.BigDecimal, and java.math.BigDecimal.TYPE -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.BigDecimalConverter (or a subclass of this class).
? java.math.BigInteger, and java.math.BigInteger.TYPE -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.BigIntegerConverter (or a subclass of this class).
? java.lang.Boolean, and java.lang.Boolean.TYPE -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.BooleanConverter (or a subclass of this class).
? java.lang.Byte, and java.lang.Byte.TYPE -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.ByteConverter (or a subclass of this class).
? java.lang.Character, and java.lang.Character.TYPE -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.CharacterConverter (or a subclass of this class).
? java.lang.Double, and java.lang.Double.TYPE -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.DoubleConverter (or a subclass of this class).
? java.lang.Float, and java.lang.Float.TYPE -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.FloatConverter (or a subclass of this class).
? java.lang.Integer, and java.lang.Integer.TYPE -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.IntegerConverter (or a subclass of this class).
? java.lang.Long, and java.lang.Long.TYPE -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.LongConverter (or a subclass of this class).
? java.lang.Short, and java.lang.Short.TYPE -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.ShortConverter (or a subclass of this class).
? java.lang.Enum, and java.lang.Enum.TYPE -- An instance of
javax.faces.convert.EnumConverter (or a subclass of this class).
[P1-end] See the Javadocs for these classes for a detailed description of the conversion operations they perform, and the
configuration properties that they support.
[P1-start allowing string converters] A compliant implementation must allow the registration of a converter for class
java.lang.String and java.lang.String.TYPE that will be used to convert values for these types. [P1-end]

3.4 Event and Listener Model
This section describes how JavaServer Faces provides support for generating and handling user interface events and
system events.
3.4.1 Overview
JSF implements a model for event notification and listener registration based on the design patterns in the JavaBeans
Specification, version 1.0.1. This is similar to the approach taken in other user interface toolkits, such as the Swing
Framework included in the JDK.
A UIComponent subclass may choose to emit events that signify significant state changes, and broadcast them to
listeners that have registered an interest in receiving events of the type indicated by the event’s implementation class. At
the end of several phases of the request processing lifecycle, the JSF implementation will broadcast all of the events that
have been queued to interested listeners. As of JSF version 2, the specification also defines system events. System events
are events that are not specific to any particular application, but rather stem from specific points in time of running a JSF
application. The following UML class diagram illustrates the key players in the event model. Boxes shaded in gray
indicate classes or interfaces defined outside of the javax.faces.event package.

3.4.2 Application Events
Application events are events that are specific to a particular application. Application events are the standard events that
have been in JSF from the beginning.
3.4.2.1 Event Classes

All events that are broadcast by JSF user interface components must extend the javax.faces.event.FacesEvent
abstract base class. The parameter list for the constructor(s) of this event class must include a UIComponent, which
identifies the component from which the event will be broadcast to interested listeners. The source component can be
retrieved from the event object itself by calling getComponent. Additional constructor parameters and/or properties on
the event class can be used to relay additional information about the event.
In conformance to the naming patterns defined in the JavaBeans Specification, event classes typically have a class name
that ends with Event. It is recommended that application event classes follow this naming pattern as well.
The component that is the source of a FacesEvent can be retrieved via this method:
public UIComponent getComponent();
FacesEvent has a phaseId property (of type PhaseId, see Section 3.4.2.3 “Phase Identifiers”) used to identify the
request processing lifecycle phase after which the event will be delivered to interested listeners.
public PhaseId getPhaseId();
public void setPhaseId(PhaseId phaseId);
If this property is set to PhaseId.ANY_PHASE (which is the default), the event will be delivered at the end of the phase
in which it was enqueued.
To facilitate general management of event listeners in JSF components, a FacesEvent implementation class must
support the following methods:
public abstract boolean isAppropriateListener(FacesListener

listener);
public abstract void processListener(FacesListener listener);
The isAppropriateListener() method returns true if the specified FacesListener is a relevant receiver of
this type of event. Typically, this will be implemented as a simple “instanceof” check to ensure that the listener class
implements the FacesListener subinterface that corresponds to this event class
The processListener() method must call the appropriate event processing method on the specified listener.
Typically, this will be implemented by casting the listener to the corresponding FacesListener subinterface and
calling the appropriate event processing method, passing this event instance as a parameter.
public void queue();
The above convenience method calls the queueEvent() method of the source UIComponent for this event, passing
this event as a parameter.
JSF includes two standard FacesEvent subclasses, which are emitted by the corresponding standard UIComponent
subclasses described in the following chapter.

? ActionEvent—Emitted by a UICommand component when the user activates the corresponding user interface
control (such as a clicking a button or a hyperlink).
? ValueChangeEvent—Emitted by a UIInput component (or appropriate subclass) when a new local value has
been created, and has passed all validations.
3.4.2.2 Listener Classes

For each event type that may be emitted, a corresponding listener interface must be created, which extends the
javax.faces.event.FacesListener interface. The method signature(s) defined by the listener interface must
take a single parameter, an instance of the event class for which this listener is being created. A listener implementation
class will implement one or more of these listener interfaces, along with the event handling method(s) specified by those
interfaces. The event handling methods will be called during event broadcast, one per event.
In conformance to the naming patterns defined in the JavaBeans Specification, listener interfaces have a class name
based on the class name of the event being listened to, but with the word Listener replacing the trailing Event of the
event class name (thus, the listener for a FooEvent would be a FooListener). It is recommended that application
event listener interfaces follow this naming pattern as well.
Corresponding to the two standard event classes described in the previous section, JSF defines two standard event
listener interfaces that may be implemented by application classes:
? ActionListener—a listener that is interested in receiving ActionEvent events.
? ValueChangeListener—a listener that is interested in receiving ValueChangeEvent events.
3.4.2.3 Phase Identifiers

As described in Section 2.3 “Common Event Processing”, event handling occurs at the end of several phases of the
request processing lifecycle. In addition, a particular event must indicate, through the value it returns from the
getPhaseId() method, the phase in which it wishes to be delivered. This indication is done by returning an instance
of javax.faces.event.PhaseId. The class defines a typesafe enumeration of all the legal values that may be
returned by getPhaseId(). In addition, a special value (PhaseId.ANY_PHASE) may be returned to indicate that this
event wants to be delivered at the end of the phase in which it was queued.
3.4.2.4 Listener Registration

A concrete UIComponent subclass that emits events of a particular type must include public methods to register and
deregister a listener implementation. [P1-start listener methods must conform to javabeans naming] In order to be
recognized by development tools, these listener methods must follow the naming patterns defined in the JavaBeans
Specification. [P1-end] For example, for a component that emits FooEvent events, to be received by listeners that
implement the FooListener interface, the method signatures (on the component class) must be:
public void addFooListener(FooListener listener);
public FooListener[] getFooListeners();
public void removeFooListener(FooListener listener);
The application (or other components) may register listener instances at any time, by calling the appropriate add method.
The set of listeners associated with a component is part of the state information that JSF saves and restores. Therefore,
listener implementation classes must have a public zero-argument constructor, and may implement StateHolder (see
Section 3.2.4 “StateHolder”) if they have internal state information that needs to be saved and restored.
The UICommand and UIInput standard component classes include listener registration and deregistration methods for
event listeners associated with the event types that they emit. The UIInput methods are also inherited by UIInput
subclasses, including UISelectBoolean, UISelectMany, and UISelectOne.

3.4.2.5 Event Queueing
During the processing being performed by any phase of the request processing lifecycle, events may be created and
queued by calling the queueEvent() method on the source UIComponent instance, or by calling the queue()
method on the FacesEvent instance itself. As described in Section 2.3 “Common Event Processing”, at the end of
certain phases of the request processing lifecycle, any queued events will be broadcast to interested listeners in the order
that the events were originally queued.
Deferring event broadcast until the end of a request processing lifecycle phase ensures that the entire component tree has
been processed by that state, and that event listeners all see the same consistent state of the entire tree, no matter when
the event was actually queued.
3.4.2.6 Event Broadcasting

As described in Section 2.3 “Common Event Processing”, at the end of each request processing lifecycle phase that may
cause events to be queued, the lifecycle management method of the UIViewRoot component at the root of the
component tree will iterate over the queued events and call the broadcast() method on the source component
instance to actually notify the registered listeners. See the Javadocs of the broadcast() method for detailed functional
requirements.
During event broadcasting, a listener processing an event may:

? Examine or modify the state of any component in the component tree.
? Add or remove components from the component tree.
? Add messages to be returned to the user, by calling addMessage on the FacesContext instance for the current
request.
? Queue one or more additional events, from the same source component or a different one, for processing during the
current lifecycle phase.
? Throw an AbortProcessingException, to tell the JSF implementation that no further broadcast of this event
should take place.
? Call renderResponse() on the FacesContext instance for the current request. This tells the JSF
implementation that, when the current phase of the request processing lifecycle has been completed, control should be
transferred to the Render Response phase.
? Call responseComplete() on the FacesContext instance for the current request. This tells the JSF
implementation that, when the current phase of the request processing lifecycle has been completed, processing for
this request should be terminated (because the actual response content has been generated by some other means).
3.4.3 System Events

System Events are introduced in version 2 of the specification and represent specific points in time for a JSF application.
PhaseEvents also represent specific points in time in a JSF application, but the granularity they offer is not as precise
as System Events. For more on PhaseEvents, please see Section 12.2 “PhaseEvent”.

All system events extend from the base class SystemEvent. SystemEvent has a similar API to FacesEvent, but
the source of the event is of type Object (instead of UIComponent), SystemEvent has no PhaseId property
and SystemEvent has no queue() method because SystemEvents are never queued. SystemEvent shares
isAppropriateListener() and processListener() with FacesEvent. For the specification of these
methods see 3.4.2.1.
System events that originate from or are associated with specific component instances should extend from
ComponentSystemEvent, which extends SystemEvent and adds a getComponent() method, as specififed in
3.4.2.1.
The specification defines the following SystemEvent subclasses, all in package javax.faces.event.

? ExceptionQueuedEvent indicates a non-expected Exception has been thrown. Please see Section 6.2
“ExceptionHandler” for the normative specification.
? PostConstructApplicationEvent must be published immediately after application startup. Please see
Section 11.4.2 “Application Startup Behavior” for the normative specification.
? PreDestroyApplicationEvent must be published as immediately before application shutdown. Please see
Section 11.4.4 “Application Shutdown Behavior” for the normative specification
? PostKeepFlashEvent This event must be published by a call to Application.publishEvent() when a
value is kept in the flash.
? PostPutFlashEvent This event must be published by a call to Application.publishEvent() when a
value is stored in the flash.
? PreClearFlashEvent This event must be published by a call to Application.publishEvent() when a
before the flash is cleared.
? PreRemoveFlashEvent This event must be published by a call to Application.publishEvent() when a
value is removed from the flash.
The specification defines the following ComponentSystemEvent classes, all in package javax.faces.event.
? InitialStateEvent must be published with a direct call to UIComponent.processEvent(), during the
apply() method of the class javax.faces.webapp.vdl.ComponentHandler. Please see the javadocs for
the normative specification.
? PostAddToViewEvent indicates that the source component has just been added to the view. Please see
Section 3.1.7 “Component Tree Manipulation” for a reference to the normative specification.
? PostConstructViewMapEvent indicates that the Map that is the view scope has just been created. Please see,
the UIViewRoot Section 4.1.19.4 “Events” for a reference to the normative specification.
? PostRenderViewEvent indicates that the UIViewRoot source component has just been rendered. Please see Section
2.2.6 “Render Response” for the normative specification.
? PostRestoreStateEvent indicates that an individual component instance has just had its state restored. Please
see the UIViewRoot Section 4.1.19.4 “Events” for a reference to the normative specification.
? PostValidateEvent indicates that an individual component instance has just been validated. Please see the
EditableValueHolder Section 3.2.7.3 “Events” for the normative specification.
? PreDestroyViewMapEvent indicates that the Map that is the view scope is about to be destroyed. Please see, the
UIViewRoot Section 4.1.19.2 “Properties” for the normative specification.
? PreRenderComponentEvent indicates that the source component is about to be rendered. Please see
Section 3.1.7 “Component Tree Manipulation” for a reference to the normative specification.
? PreRenderViewEvent indicates that the UIViewRoot source component is about to be rendered. Please see
Section 2.2.6 “Render Response” for the normative specification.
? PreValidateEvent indicates that an individual component instance is about to be validated. Please see the
EditableValueHolder Section 3.2.7.3 “Events” for the normative specification.

Unlike application events, the creation of new event types for system events does not require the creation of new listener
interfaces. All SystemEvent types can be listened for by listeners that implement
javax.faces.event.SystemEventListener. Please see the javadocs for that class for the complete
specification.
As a developer convenience, the listener interface ComponentSystemEventListener has been defined for those
cases when a SystemEventListener is being attached to a specific UIComponent instance.
ComponentSystemEventListener lacks the isListenerForSource() method because it is implcictly defined
by virture of the listener being added to a specific component instance.

3.4.3.3 Programmatic Listener Registration
System events may be listened for at the Application level, using Application.subscribeToEvent() or at the
component level, by calling subscribeToEvent() on a specific component instance. The specification for
Application.subscribeToEvent() may be found in Section 7.1.14 “System Event Methods”.
The following methods are defined on UIComponent to support per-component system events.
public void subscribeToEvent(Class<? extends SystemEvent>

eventClass, ComponentSystemEventListener componentListener);
public void unsubscribeFromEvent(Class<? extends SystemEvent>
eventClass, ComponentSystemEventListener componentListener);
See the javadoc for UIComponent for the normative specification of these methods.
In addition to the above methods, the @ListenerFor and @ListenersFor annotations allow components, renderers,
validators and converters to declare that they want to register for system events. Please see the javadocs for those
annotations for the complete specification.
3.4.3.4 Declarative Listener Registration

Page authors can subscribe to events using the <f:event/> tag. This tag will allow the application developer to specify the
method to be called when the specifed event fires for the component of which the tag is a child. The tag usage is as
follows:
<h:inputText value="#{myBean.text}">
<f:event type="preRenderComponent"
listener="#{myBean.beforeTextRender}" />
</h:inputText>
The type attribute specifies the type of event, and can be any of the specification-defined events or one of any user-
defined events, but must be a ComponentSystemEvent, using either the short-hand name for the event or the fully-
qualified class name (e.g., com.foo.app.event.CustomEvent). If the event can not be found, a
FacesException listing the offending event type will be thrown. Please see the VDLDocs for the <f:event /> tag
for the normative specification of the declarative event feature.
The method signature for the MethodExpression pointed to by the listener attribute must match the signature of
javax.faces.event.ComponentSystemEventListener.processEvent(), which is:
public void processEvent(javax.faces.event.ComponentSystemEvent

event) throws AbortProcessingException.
3.4.3.5 Listener Registration By Annotation

The ListenerFor and ListenersFor annotations can be applied to components and rendererers. Classes tagged
with the ListenerFor annotation are installed as listeners. The ListenersFor annotation is a container
annotation tp specify multiple ListenerFor annotations for a single class. Please refer to the Javadocs for the
ListenerFor and ListenersFor classes for more details.

3.4.3.6 Listener Registration By Application Configuration Resources
A <system-event-listener> element, within the <application> element of an application configuration
resource, declares an application scoped listener and causes a call to Application.subscribeToEvent().
3.4.3.7 Event Broadcasting

System events are broadcast immediately by calls to Application.publishEvent() Please see
Section 7.1.14 “System Event Methods” for the normative specification of publishEvent().

3.5 Validation Model
This section describes the facilities provided by JavaServer Faces for validating user input.
3.5.1 Overview
JSF supports a mechanism for registering zero or more validators on each EditableValueHolder component in the
component tree. A validator’s purpose is to perform checks on the local value of the component, during the Process
Validations phase of the request processing lifecycle. In addition, a component may implement internal checking in a
validate method that is part of the component class.
3.5.2 Validator Classes

A validator must implement the javax.faces.validator.Validator interface, which contains a validate()
method signature.
public void validate(FacesContext context, UIComponent

component, Object value);
General purpose validators may require configuration values in order to define the precise check to be performed. For
example, a validator that enforces a maximum length might wish to support a configurable length limit. Such
configuration values are typically implemented as JavaBeans component properties, and/or constructor arguments, on the
Validator implementation class. In addition, a validator may elect to use generic attributes of the component being
validated for configuration information.
JSF includes implementations of several standard validators, as described in Section 3.5.5 “Standard Validator
Implementations”.
3.5.3 Validation Registration

The EditableValueHolder interface (implemented by UIInput) includes an addValidator method to register
an additional validator for this component, and a removeValidator method to remove an existing registration. In JSF
1.1 there was the ability to set a MethodBinding that points to a method that adheres to the validate signature in the
Validator interface, which will be called after the Validator instances added by calling addValidator() have been
invoked. In JSF 1.2, this has been replaced by providing a new wrapper class that implements Validator, and accepts
a MethodExpression instance that points to the same method that the MethodBinding pointed to in JSF 1.1.
Please see the javadocs for EditableValueHolder.setValidator().
The application (or other components) may register validator instances at any time, by calling the addValidator
method. The set of validators associated with a component is part of the state information that JSF saves and restores.
Validators that wish to have configuration properties saved and restored must also implement StateHolder (see
Section 3.2.4 “StateHolder”).
In addition to validators which are registered explicitly on the component, either through the Java API or in the view
markup, zero or more “default validators” can be declared in the application configuration resources, which will be
registered on all UIInput instances in the component tree unless explicitly disabled. [P1-start-validator-reg]The default
validators are appended after any locally defined validators once the EditableValueHolder is populated and added
to the component tree. A default validator must not be added to a UIInput if a validator having the same id is already
present.

The typical way of registering a default validator id is by declaring it in a configuration resource, as follows:
<faces-config>
<application>
<default-validators>
<validator-id>javax.faces.Bean</validator-id>
</default-validators>
<application/>
</faces-config>
A default validator may also be registered using the isDefault attribute on the @FacesValidator annotation on a
Validator class, as specified in Section 11.5.1 “Requirements for scanning of classes for annotations”.
The during application startup, the runtime must cause any default validators declared either in the application
configuration resources, or via a @FacesValidator annotation with isDefault set to true to be added with a call
to Application.addDefaultValidatorId(). This method is declared in Section 7.1.12.1 “Default Validator
Ids”.
Any configuration resource that declares a list of default validators overrides any list provided in a previously processed
configuration resource. If an empty <default-validators/> element is found in a configuration resource, the list
of default validators must be cleared.
In environments that include Bean Validation, the following additional actions must be taken at startup time. If the
javax.faces.validator.DISABLE_DEFAULT_BEAN_VALIDATOR <context-param> exists and its value is
true, the following step must be skipped:
? The runtime must guarantee that the validator id javax.faces.Bean is included in the result from a call to
Application.getDefaultValidatorInfo() (see Section 7.1.12.1 “Default Validator Ids”), regardless of any
configuration found in the application configuration resources or via the @FacesValidator annotation.[P1-end]
3.5.4 Validation Processing

During the Process Validations phase of the request processing lifecycle (as described in Section 2.2.3 “Process
Validations”), the JSF implementation will ensure that the validate() method of each registered Validator, the
method referenced by the validator property (if any), and the validate() method of the component itself, is called
for each EditableValueHolder component in the component tree, regardless of the validity state of any of the
components in the tree. The responsibilities of each validate() method include:
? Perform the check for which this validator was registered.
? If violation(s) of the correctness rules are found, create a FacesMessage instance describing the problem, and
create a ValidatorException around it, and throw the ValidatorException. The
EditableValueHolder on which this validation is being performed will catch this exception, set valid to
false for that instance, and cause the message to be added to the FacesContext.
In addition, a validate() method may:

? Examine or modify the state of any component in the component tree.
? Add or remove components from the component tree.
? Queue one or more events, from the same component or a different one, for processing during the current lifecycle
phase.

The render-independent property required is a shorthand for the function of a “required” validator. If the value of this
property is true, there is an entry in the request payload corresponding to this component, and the component has no
value, the component is marked invalid and a message is added to the FacesContext instance. See Section 2.5.2.4
“Localized Application Messages” for details on the message.
3.5.5 Standard Validator Implementations

JavaServer Faces defines a standard suite of Validator implementations that perform a variety of commonly required
checks. In addition, component writers, application developers, and tool providers will often define additional
Validator implementations that may be used to support component-type-specific or application-specific constraints.
These implementations share the following common characteristics:
? Standard Validators accept configuration information as either parameters to the constructor that creates a new
instance of that Validator, or as JavaBeans component properties on the Validator implementation class.
? To support internationalization, FacesMessage instances should be created. The message identifiers for such
standard messages are also defined by manifest String constants in the implementation classes. It is the user’s
responsibility to ensure the content of a FacesMessage instance is properly localized, and appropriate parameter
substitution is performed, perhaps using java.text.MessageFormat.
? See the javadocs for UIInput.validateValue() for further normative specification regarding validation.
? Concrete Validator implementations must define a public static final String constant VALIDATOR_ID, whose value is
the standard identifier under which the JSF implementation must register this instance (see below).
Please see Section 2.5.2.4 “Localized Application Messages” for the list of message identifiers.
[P1-start standard validators] The following standard Validator implementations (in the
javax.faces.validator package) are provided:
? DoubleRangeValidator—Checks the local value of a component, which must be of any numeric type, against
specified maximum and/or minimum values. Standard identifier is “javax.faces.DoubleRange”.
? LengthValidator—Checks the length (i.e. number of characters) of the local value of a component, which must
be of type String, against maximum and/or minimum values. Standard identifier is “javax.faces.Length”.
? LongRangeValidator—Checks the local value of a component, which must be of any numeric type convertible to
long, against maximum and/or minimum values. Standard identifier is “javax.faces.LongRange”.
? RegexValidator—Accepts a “pattern” attribute that is interpreted as a regular expression from the
java.util.regex package. The local value of the component is checked fora match against this regular
expression. Standard identifier is “javax.faces.RegularExpression”
? BeanValidator- The implementation must ensure that this validator is only available when running in an
environment in which JSR-303 Beans Validation is available. Please see the javadocs for
BeanValidator.validate() for the specification.Standard identifier is “javax.faces.Bean”
? RequiredValidator - Analogous to setting the required attribute to true on the EditableValueHolder. Enforces that the
local value is not empty. Reuses the logic and error messages defined on UIInput. The standard identifier for this
validator is "javax.faces.Required"
MethodExpressionValidator—Wraps a MethodExpression and interprets it as pointing to a method that

performs validation. Any exception thrown when the expression is invoked is wrapped in a ValidatorException in
similar fashion as the above validators. [P1-end]
3.5.6 Bean Validation Integration

If the implementation is running in a container environment that requires Bean Validation, it must expose the bean
validation as described in this specification.
As stated in the specification goals of JSR 303, validation often gets spread out across the application, from user
interface components to persistent objects. Bean Validation strives to avoid this duplication by defining a set of metadata
that can be used to express validation constraints that are sharable by any layer of the application. Since its inception,

JSF has supported a “field level validation” approach. Rather than requiring the developer to define validators for each
input component (i.e., EditableValueHolder), the BeanValidator can be automatically applied to all fields on a
page so that the work of enforcing the constraints can be delegated to the Bean Validation provider.
3.5.6.1 Bean Validator Activation

[P1-BeanValidationIntegration]If Bean Validation is present in the runtime environment, the system must ensure that the
standard validator with validator-id javax.faces.Bean is added with a call to
Application.addDefaultValidatorId().[P1-end] See 3.5.5 for the description of the standard
BeanValidator, and Section 10.4.1.4 “<f:validateBean>” for the Facelet tag that exposes this validator to the page
author. This ensures Bean Validation will be called for every field in the application.
If Bean Validation is present, and the javax.faces.VALIDATE_EMPTY_FIELDS <context-param> is not

explicitly set to false, JSF will validate null and empty fields so that the @NotNull and @NotEmpty constraints
from Bean Validation can be leveraged. The next section describes how the reference to the Bean Validation
ValidatorFactory is obtained by that validator.
3.5.6.2 Obtaining a ValidatorFactory

The Bean Validation ValidatorFactory is the main entry point into Bean Validation and is responsible for creating
Validator instances. [P1-start-validatoryfactory]A ValidatorFactory is retrieved using the following algorithm:
? If the servlet context contains a ValidatorFactory instance under the attribute named
javax.faces.validator.beanValidator.ValidatorFactory, this instance is used by JSF to acquire Validator instances
(specifically in the BeanValidator). This key should be defined in the constant named VALIDATOR_FACTORY_KEY
on BeanValidator.
? If the servlet context does not contain such an entry, JSF looks for a Bean Validation provider in the classpath. If
present, the standard Bean Validation bootstrap strategy is used. If not present, Bean Validation integration is
disabled. If the BeanValidator is used an no ValidatorFactory can be retrieved, a FacesException is raised. The
standard Bean Validation bootstrap procedure is shown here:
ValidatorFactory validatorFactory =
Validation.buildDefaultValidatorFactory();
Once instantiated, the result can be stored in the servlet context attribute mentioned as a means of caching the result.
If JSF is running in an EE6 environment, Bean Validation will be available, as defined by the EE6 specification, and
thus activated in JSF. The EE container will be responsible for making the ValidatorFactory available as an attribute
in the ServletContext as mentioned above.[P1-end]
3.5.6.3 Class-Level Validation

JSF conversion and validation as described in this chapter operates on the principle that all conversion and validation is
performed before values are pushed into the model. This principle allows one to safely assume that if a value is pushed
into the model, it is of the proper type and has been validated. This validation is done on a “field level” basis, as
mentioned in Section 3.5.6 “Bean Validation Integration”. This approach poses challenges for higher level validation that
needs to take the value of several fields together into account to decide if they are valid or not. For example, consider the
common case of a user account creation page with two fields for the password. The page can only be considered valid if
both password fields are themselves individually valid based on the specified password constraints and also are both the
same value. JSF provides for this case by providing a facility for performing Class-Level Validation using Bean
Validation. Please see the VDLDoc for the <f:validateWholeBean /> tag for the normative specification of this
feature as well as a usage example showing the password validation scenario.

3.5.6.4 Localization of Bean Validation Messages
To ensure proper localization of the messages, JSF should provide a custom BeanValidation MessageInterpolator
resolving the Locale according to JSF defaults and delegating to the default MessageInterpolator as defined in
ValidationFactory.getMessageInterpolator(). A possible implementation is shown here:
public class JsfMessageInterpolator implements

MessageInterpolator {
private final MessageInterpolator delegate;
public JsfMessageInterpolator(MessageInterpolator delegate) {

this.delegate = delegate;
}
public String interpolate(String message, ConstraintDescriptor

constraintDescriptor,Object value) {
Locale locale =
FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getViewRoot().
getLocale();
return this.delegate.interpolate(
message, constraintDescriptor, value, locale );
}
public String interpolate(String message, ConstraintDescriptor

constraintDescriptor, Object value, Locale locale) {
return this.delegate.interpolate(message,
constraintDescriptor, value, locale);
}
}
Once a ValidatorFactory is obtained, as described in Section 3.5.6.2 “Obtaining a ValidatorFactory”, JSF receives a
Validator instance by providing the custom message interpolator to the validator state.
//could be cached
MessageInterpolator jsfMessageInterpolator = new
JsfMessageInterpolator(
validatorFactory.getMessageInterpolator() );
//...
Validator validator = validatorFactory

.usingContext()
.messageInterpolator(jsfMessageInterpolator)
.getValidator();
The local value is then passed to the Validator.validateValue() method to check for constraint violations. Since Bean
Validation defines a strategy for localized message reporting, the BeanValidator does not need to concern itself with
producing the validation message. Instead, the BeanValidator should accept the interpolated message returned from Bean
Validation API, which is accessed via the method getInterpolatedMessage() on the ContraintFailure class, and use it as

the replacement value for the first numbered placeholder for the key javax.faces.validator.BeanValidator.MESSAGE (i.e.,
{0}). To encourage use of the Bean Validation message facility, the default message format string for the BeanValidator
message key must be a single placeholder, as shown here:
javax.faces.validator.BeanValidator.MESSAGE={0}
Putting the Bean Validation message resolution in full control of producing the displayed message is the recommended
approach. However, to allow the developer to align the messages generated by the BeanValidator with existing JSF 1.2
validators, the developer may choose to override this message key in an application resource bundle and reference the
component label, which replaces the second numbered placeholder (i.e., {1}).
javax.faces.validator.BeanValidator.MESSAGE={1}: {0}
This approach is useful if you are already using localized labels for your input components and are displaying the
messages above the form, rather than adjacent to the input.
3.6 Composite User Interface Components
3.6.1 Non-normative Background

To aid implementors in providing a spec compliant runtime for composite components, this section provides a non-
normative background to motivate the discussion of the composite component feature. The composite component feature
enables developers to write real, reusable, JSF UI components without any Java code or configuration XML.
3.6.1.1 What does it mean to be a JSF User Interface component?

JSF is a component based framework, and JSF UI components are the main point of JSF. But what is a JSF UI
component, really? Conceptually, a JSF UI Component is a software artifact that represents a reusable, self contained
piece of a user interface. A very narrow definition for “JSF UI Component” is imposed at runtime. This definition can be
summarized as
A JSF UI Component is represented at runtime by an instance of a Java class that includes
javax.faces.component.UIComponent as an ancestor in its inheritance hierarchy.
It is easy to write a class that adheres to this definition, but in practice, component authors need to do more than just this
in order to get the most from JSF and to conform to user’s expectations of what a JSF UI Component is. For example,
users expect a JSF UI Component can do some or all of the following:
? be exposed to the page-author via a markup tag with sensible attributes
? emit events (such a ValueChangeEvent or ActionEvent)
? allow attaching listeners
? allow attaching a Converter and/or Validator(s)
? render itself to the user-agent, with full support for styles, localization and accessibility
? support delegated rendering to allow for client device independence
? read values sent from the user-agent and correctly adapt them to the faces lifecycle
? correctly handle saving and restoring its state across multiple requests from the user-agent

Another important dimension to consider regarding UI components is the context in which the developer interacts with
the component. There are generally two such contexts.
? In the context of a markup view, such as a JSP or Facelet view. In this context the developer interacts with the UI
component using a markup element, setting attributes on that element, and nesting child elements within that
component markup element.
? In the context of code, such as a listener, a managed-bean, or other programming language context. In this context, the
developer is writing JavaCode that is either passed the UI component as an argument, or obtains a reference to the UI
component in some other way.
3.6.1.2 How does one make a custom JSF User Interface component (JSF 1.2 and earlier)?
To satisfy a user’s expectations for a JSF UI component, the component author must adhere to one of the following best
practices.
? extend the custom component class from an existing subclass of UIComponent that most closely represents the
meaning and behavior of the piece of the UI you are encapsulating in the component.
? extend the custom component class directly from UIComponentBase and implement the appropriate “behavioral
interface”(s) that most closely represents the meaning and behavior of the piece of the UI you are encapsulating in the
component. See Section 3.2 “Component Behavioral Interfaces” for more.
Note that the first best practice includes the second one “for free” since the stock UIComponent subclasses already
implement the appropriate behavioral interfaces.
When following either best practice, the JSF UI component developer must follow several steps to make the component
available for use in markup pages or in code, including but not necessarily limited to
? Make entries in a faces-config.xml file, linking the component class to its component-type, which enables
the Application.createComponent() method to create instances of the component.
? Make entries in a faces-config.xml file to declare a Renderer that provides client-device independence.
? Provide a JSP or Facelet tag handler that allows the page author to build UIs that include the component, and to
customize each instance of the component with listeners, properties and model associations. This includes making the
association between the Renderer and the UIComponent.
? Provide a Renderer that provides client device independency for the component
? Make entries in a faces-config.xml file that links the Renderer and its Java class.
These steps are complex, yet the components one creates by following them can be very flexible and powerful. By
making some simplifying assumptions, it is possible to allow the creation of components that are just as powerful but
require far less complexity to develop. This is the whole point of composite components: to enable developers to write
real, reusable, JSF UI components without any Java code or configuration XML.
3.6.1.3 How does one make a composite component?

The composite component feature builds on two features introduced in JSF 2.0: resources (Section 2.6 “Resource
Handling”) and Facelets (Chapter 10 “Facelets and its use in Web Applications”). Briefly, a composite component is any
Facelet markup file that resides inside of a resource library. For example, if a Facelet markup file named
loginPanel.xhtml resides inside of a resource library called ezcomp, then page authors can use this component by
declaring the xml namespace xmlns:ez="http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite/ezcomp" and including
the tag <ez:loginPanel /> in their pages. Naturally, it is possible for a composite component author to declare an
alternate XML namespace for their composite components, but doing so is optional.
Any valid Facelet markup is valid for use inside of a composite component, including the templating features specified
in Section 10.4.3 “Facelet Templating Tag Library”. In addition, the tag library specified in Section 10.4.4 “Composite
Component Tag Library” must be used to declare the metadata for the composite component. Future versions of the JSF
specification may relax this requirement, but for now at least the <composite:interface> and
<composite:implementation> sections are required when creating a composite component.

3.6.1.4 A simple composite component example
Create the page that uses the composite component, index.xhtml.
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"

"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html"
xmlns:f="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core"
xmlns:ez="http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite/ezcomp">
<h:head>
<title>A simple example of EZComp</title>
</h:head>
<h:body>
<h:form>
<ez:loginPanel id="loginPanel">
<f:actionListener for="loginEvent"
binding="#{bean.loginEventListener}" />
</ez:loginPanel>
</h:form>
</h:body>
</html>
The only thing special about this page is the ez namespace declaration and the inclusion of the <ez:loginPanel />
tag on the page. The occurrence of the string “http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite/” in a Facelet XML
namespace declaration means that whatever follows that last “/” is taken to be the name of a resource library. For any
usage of this namespace in the page, such as <ez:loginPanel />, a Facelet markup file with the corresponding
name is loaded and taken to be the composite component, in this case the file loginPanel.xhtml. The
implementation requirements for this and other Facelet features related to composite components are specified in
Section 10.3.3 “Requirements specific to composite components”.

Create the composite component markup page. In this case, loginPanel.xhtml resides in the
./resources/ezcomp directory relative to the index.xhtml file.
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"

"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
xmlns:ui="http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets"
xmlns:composite="http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite">
<head>
<title>Not present in rendered output</title>
</head>
<body>
<composite:interface>
<composite:actionSource name="loginEvent" />
</composite:interface>
<composite:implementation>
<p>Username: <h:inputText id="usernameInput" /></p>
<p>Password: <h:inputSecret id="passwordInput" /></p>
<p><h:commandButton id="loginEvent" value="login"/>
</composite:implementation>
</body>
</html>
The <composite:interface> section declares the public interface that users of this component need to understand.
In this case, the component declares that it contains an implementation of ActionSource2 (see Section 3.2.2
“ActionSource2”), and therefore anything one can do with an ActionSource2 in a Facelet markup page you one do
with the composite component. (See Section 3.2 “Component Behavioral Interfaces” for more on ActionSource2 and
other behavioral interfaces). The <composite:implementation> section defines the implementation of this
composite component.
3.6.1.5 Walk through of the run-time for the simple composite component example
This section gives a non-normative traversal of the composite component feature using the previous example as a guide.
Please refer to the javadocs for the normative specification for each method mentioned below. Any text in italics is a
term defined in Section 3.6.1.6 “Composite Component Terms”.
1. The user-agent requests the index.html from Section 3.6.1.4 “A simple composite component example”. This page
contains the ‘xmlns:ez="http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite/ezcomp"‘ declaration and an occurrence of
the <ez:loginPanel> tag. Because this page contains a usage of a composite component, it is called a using page
for discussion.

The runtime notices the use of an xml namespace beginning with “http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite/”.
Takes the substring of the namespace after the last “/”, exclusive, and looks for a resource library with the name
“ezcomp” by calling ResourceHandler.libraryExists().
2. The runtime encounters the <ez:loginPanel> component in the using page. This causes
Application.createComponent(FacesContext, Resource) to be called. This method instantiates the
top level component but does not populate it with children. Pay careful attention to the javadocs for this method.
Depending on the circumstances, the top level component instance can come from a developer supplied Java Class, a
Script, or an implementation specific java class. This method calls
ViewDeclarationLanguage.getComponentMetadata(FacesContext, Resource), which obtains the
composite component BeanInfo (and therefore also the composite component BeanDescriptor) that exposes the
composite component metadata. The composite component metadata also includes any attached object targets
exposed by the composite component author. One thing that
Application.createComponent(FacesContext, Resource) does to the component before returning it
is set the component’s renderer type to be javax.faces.Composite. This is important during rendering.
Again, Application.createComponent(FacesContext, Resource) does not populate the top level
component with children. Subsequent processing done as the runtime traverses the rest of the page takes care of that.
One very important aspect of that subsequent processing is ensuring that all of the UIComponent children in the
defining page are placed in a facet underneath the top level component. The name of that facet is given by the
UIComponent.COMPOSITE_FACET_NAME constant.
3. After the children of the composite component tag in the using page have been processed by the VDL
implementation, the VDL implementation must call VDLUtils.retargetAttachedObjects(). This method
examines the composite component metadata and retargets any attached objects from the using page to their
approriate inner component targets.
4. Because the renderer type of the composite component was set to javax.faces.Composite, the composite
component renderer is invoked to render the composite component.
3.6.1.6 Composite Component Terms

The following terms are commonly used to describe the composite component feature.
Attached Object Any artifact that can be attached to a UIComponent (composite or otherwise). Usually, this means a
Converter, Validator, ActionListener, or ValueChangeListener.
Attached Object Target Part of the composite component metadata that allows the composite component author to expose the
semantics of an inner component to the using page author without exposing the rendering or implementation
details of the inner component.
Composite Component A tree of UIComponent instances, rooted at a top level component, that can be thought of and used as a
single component in a view. The component hierarchy of this subtree is described in the composite
component defining page.
Composite Component
Author The individual or role creating the composite component. This usually involves authoring the composite
component defining page.
Composite Component
BeanDescriptor A constituent element of the composite component metadata. This version of the spec uses the JavaBeans
API to expose the component metadata for the composite component. Future versions of the spec may use a
different API to expose the component metadata.
Composite Component
BeanInfo The main element of the composite component metadata.
Composite Component
Declaration The section of markup within the composite component defining page that includes the
<composite:interface> section and its children.

Composite Component
Definition The section of markup within the composite component defining page that includes the
<composite:implementation> section and its children.
Composite Component
Library A resource library that contains a defining page for each composite component that the composite
component author wishes to expose to the using page author.
Composite Component
Metadata Any data about the composite component. The normative specification for what must be in the composite
component metadata is in the javadocs for
ViewDeclarationLanguage.getComponentMetadata().
Composite Component
Renderer A new renderer in the HTML_BASIC render kit that knows how to render a composite component.
Composite Component
Tag The tag in the using page that references a composite component declared and defined in a defining page.
Defining page The markup page, usually Facelets markup, that contains the composite component declaration and
composite component definition.
Inner Component Any UIComponent inside of the defining page or a page that is referenced from the defining page.
Top level component The UIComponent instance in the tree that is the parent of all UIComponent instances within the
defining page and any pages used by that defining page.
Using Page The VDL page in which a composite component tag is used.
Using Page Author The individual or role that creates pages that use the composite component.
3.6.2 Normative Requirements

This section contains the normative requirements for the composite component runtime, or pointers to other parts of the
specification that articulate those requirements in the appropriate context.
TABLE 3-1 References to Composite Component Requirements in Context
Section Feature
Section 5.6.2.1 Ability for the composite component author to refer to the top level
“Implicit Object component from an EL expression, such as #{cc.children[3]}.
ELResolver for
Facelets and
Programmatic Access”
Section 5.6.2.2 Ability for the composite component author to refer to attributes declared
“Composite on the composite component tag using EL expressions such as
Component Attributes #{cc.attrs.usernameLabel}
ELResolver”
Section 7.1.12 “Object Methods called by the VDL page to create a new instance of a top level
Factories” component for eventual inclusion in the view
Section 10.3.3 Requirements of the Facelet implementation relating to Facelets.
“Requirements
specific to composite
components”
Section 10.4.4 Tag handlers for the composite tag library
“Composite
Component Tag
Library”

3.6.2.1 Composite Component Metadata
In the current version of the specification, only composite UIComponents must have component metadata. It is
possible that future versions of the specification will broaden this requirement so that all UIComponents must have
metadata.
This section describes the implementation of the composite component metadata that is returned from the method
ViewDeclarationLanguage.getComponentMetadata(). This method is formally declared in Section 7.7.2.4
“ViewDeclarationLanguage.getComponentMetadata()”, but for reference its signature is repeated here.
public BeanInfo getComponentMetadata(FacesContext context,

Resource componentResource)
The specification requires that this method is called from Application.createComponent(FacesContext

context, Resource componentResource). See the javadocs for that method for actions that must be taken
based on the composite component metadata returned from getComponentMetadata().
The default implementation of this method must support authoring the component metadata using tags placed inside of a
<composite:interface /> element found on a defining page. This element is specified in the Facelets taglibrary
docs.
Composite component metadata currently consists of the following information:

? The composite component BeanInfo, returned from this method.
? The Resource from which the composite component was created.
? The composite component BeanDescriptor.
This BeanDescriptor must be returned when getBeanDescriptor() is called on the composite component
BeanInfo.
The composite component BeanDescriptor exposes the following information.
? The “name” attributes of the <composite:interface/ > element is exposed using the corresponding method
on the composite component BeanDescriptor. If ProjectStage is Development, The “displayName”,
“shortDescription”, “expert”, “hidden”, and “preferred” attributes of the <composite:interface/ > element
are exposed using the corresponding methods on the composite component BeanDescriptor. Any additional
attributes on <composite:interface/ > are exposed as attributes accessible from the getValue() and
attributeNames() methods on BeanDescriptor (inherited from FeatureDescriptor). The return type
from getValue() must be a javax.el.ValueExpression for such attributes.
? The list of exposed AttachedObjectTargets to which the page author can attach things such as listeners,
converters, or validators.
The VDL implementation must populate the composite component metadata with a
List<AttachedObjectTarget> that includes all of the inner components exposed by the composite
component author for use by the page author.
This List must be exposed in the value set of the composite component BeanDescriptor under the key
AttachedObjectTarget.ATTACHED_OBJECT_TARGETS_KEY.
For example, if the defining page has
<composite:editableValueHolder name=”username” />
<composite:actionSource name=”loginEvent” />
<composite:actionSource name=”allEvents”
targets=”loginEvent cancelEvent” />
The list of attached object targets would consist of instances of implementations of the following interfaces from
the package javax.faces.webapp.vdl.

i. EditableValueHolderAttachedObjectTarget
ii. ActionSource2AttachedObjectTarget
iii. ActionSource2AttachedObjectTarget
iv. BehaviorHolderAttachedObjectTarget
? A ValueExpression that evaluates to the component type of the composite component. By default this is
"javax.faces.NamingContainer" but the composite component page author can change this, or provide a
Java or script-based UIComponent implementation that is required to implement NamingContainer.
This ValueExpression must be exposed in the value set of the composite component BeanDescriptor
under the key UIComponent.COMPOSITE_COMPONENT_TYPE_KEY.
? A Map<String, PropertyDescriptor> representing the facets declared by the composite component
author for use by the page author.
This Map must be exposed in the value set of the composite component BeanDescriptor under the key
UIComponent.FACETS_KEY.
? Any attributes declared by the composite component author using <composite:attribute/ > elements must
be exposed in the array of PropertyDescriptors returned from getPropertyDescriptors() on the
composite component BeanInfo.
For each such attribute, for any String or boolean valued JavaBeans properties on the interface
PropertyDescriptor (and its superinterfaces) that are also given as attributes on a
<composite:attribute/ > element, those properties must be exposed as properties on the
PropertyDescriptor for that markup element. Any additional attributes on <composite:attribute/ >
are exposed as attributes accessible from the getValue() and attributeNames() methods on
PropertyDescriptor. The return type from getValue() must be a ValueExpression with the exception of
the getValue(“type”). The return type from getValue(“type”) must be Class. If the value specified
for the type attribute of <cc:attribute/> cannot be converted to an actual Class, a
TagAttributeException must be thrown, including the Tag and TagAttribute instances in the
constructor.
The composite component BeanDescriptor must return a Collection<String> when its getValue()
method is called with an argument equal to the value of the symbolic constant
UIComponent.ATTRS_WITH_DECLARED_DEFAULT_VALUES. The Collection<String> must contain
the names of any <composite:attribute> elements for which the default attribute was specified, or
null if none of the attributes have been given a default value.
3.7 Component Behavior Model

This section describes the facilities for adding Behavior attached objects to JavaServer Faces components.
3.7.1 Overview
JSF supports a mechanism for enhancing components with additional behaviors that are not explicitly defined by the
component author.
At the root of the behavior model is he Behavior interface. This interface serves as a supertype for additional behavior
contracts. The ClientBehavior interface extends the Behavior interface by providing a contract for defining reusable
scripts that can be attached to any component that implements the ClientBehaviorHolder interface. The
ClientBehaviorHolder interface defines the set of attach points, or "events", to which a ClientBehavior may be attached.
For example, an "AlertBehavior" implementation might display a JavaScript alert when attached to a component and
activated by the end user.

While client behaviors typically add client-side capabilities, they are not limited to client. Client behaviors can also
participate in the JSF request processing lifecycle. JSF's AjaxBehavior is a good example of such a cross-tier behavior.
The AjaxBehavior both triggers an Ajax request from the client and also delivers AjaxBehaviorEvents to listeners on the
server.
The standard HTML components provided by JSF are all client behavior-ready. That is, all of the standard HTML
components implement the ClientBehaviorHolder interface and allow client behaviors to be attached to well defined
events. .
3.7.2 Behavior Interface

The Behavior interface is the root of the component behavior model. It defines a single method to enable generic
behavior event delivery.
public void broadcast(BehaviorEvent event)

throws AbortProcessingException
This method is called by UIComponent implementations to re-broadcast behavior events that were queued by by calling
UIComponent.queueEvent.
3.7.3 BehaviorBase
The BehaviorBase abstract class implements the broadcast method from the Behavior interface. BehaviorBase also
implements the PartialStateHolder interface (see Section 3.2.5 “PartialStateHolder”). It also provides behavior event
listener registration methods.
public void broadcast(BehaviorEvent event)

throws AbortProcessingException
This method delivers the BehaviorEvent to listeners that were registered via addBehaviorListener.
The following methods are provided for add and removing BehaviorListeners..
protected void addBehaviorListener(BehaviorListener listener)
protected void removeBehaviorListener(BehaviorListener listener);
3.7.4 The Client Behavior Contract

The ClientBehavior interface extends the Behavior interface and lays the foundation on which behavior authors
can define custom script producing behaviors. The logic for producing these scripts is defined in the getScript()
method.
public String getScript(BehaviorContext behaviorContext)
This method returns a String that is an executable script that can be attached to a client side event handler. The
BehaviorContext argument contains information that may be useful for getScript implementations.

In addition to client side functionality, client behaviors can also post back to the server and participate in the request
processing lifecycle. ..
public void decode(FacesContext context,UIComponent component)
This method can perform request decoding and queue server side events..].
public Set<ClientBehaviorHint> getHints()
This method provides information about the client behavior implementation that may be useful to components and
renderers that interact with the client behavior.
Refer to the javadocs for these methods for more details.
3.7.5 ClientBehaviorHolder
Components that support client behaviors must implement the ClientBehaviorHolder interface. Refer to Section 3.2.9
“ClientBehaviorHolder” for more details.
3.7.6 ClientBehaviorRenderer
Client behaviors may implement script generation and decoding in a client behavior class or delegate to a
ClientBehaviorRenderer. Refer to Section 8.3 “ClientBehaviorRenderer” for more specifics.
3.7.7 ClientBehaviorContext
The specification provides a ClientBehaviorContext that contains information that may be used at script rendering
time. Specifically it includes:
? FacesContext
? UIComponent that the current behavior is attached to
? The name of the event that the behavior is associated with
? The identifier of the source - this may correspond to the identifier of the source of the behavior
? A collection of parameters that submitting behaviors should include when posting back to the server
The ClientBehaviorContext is created with the use of this static method:
public static ClientBehaviorContext

createClientBehaviorContext(FacesContext context,UIComponent
component,String eventName,tring
sourceId,Collection<ClientBehaviorContext.Parameter> parameters)
This method must throw a NullPointerException if context, component or eventName is null.

3.7.8 ClientBehaviorHint
The ClientBehaviorHint enum is used to convey information about the client behavior implementation. Currently,
only one hint is provided.
SUBMITTING
This hint indicates that a client behavior implementation posts back to the server.
3.7.9 ClientBehaviorBase
ClientBehaviorBase is an extension of BehaviorBase that implements the ClientBehavior interface. It It
is a convenience class that contains default implementations for the methods in ClientBehavior plus additional
methods::
public String getScript(BehaviorContext behaviorContext)
The default implementation calls getRenderer to retrieve the ClientBehaviorRenderer. If a

ClientBehaviorRenderer is found, it is used to obtain the script. If no ClientBehaviorRenderer is found,
this method returns null.
public void decode(FacesContext context,UIComponent component)
The default implementation calls getRenderer to retrieve the ClientBehaviorRenderer. If a

ClientBehaviorRenderer is found, it is used to perform decoding. If no ClientBehaviorRenderer is found,
no decoding is performed.
public Set<ClientBehaviorHint> getHints()
The default implementation returns an empty set
public String getRendererType();
This method identifies the ClientBehaviorRenderer type. By default, no ClientBehaviorRenderer type is

provided. Subclasses should either override this method to return a valid type or override the getScript and decode
methods if a ClientBehaviorRenderer is not available..
protected ClientBehaviorRenderer getRenderer(FacesContext

context);
This method returns the ClientBehaviorRenderer instance that is associated with this ClientBehavior. It
uses the renderer type returned from getRendererType() to look up the renderer on the RenderKit using
RenderKit.getClientBehaviorRenderer.

3.7.10 Behavior Event / Listener Model
The behavior event / listener model is an extension of the JSF event / listener model as described in Section 3.4 “Event
and Listener Model”. BehaviorHolder components are responsible for broadcasting BehaviorEvents to
behaviors.

Behaviors can broadcast events in the same way that UIComponents can broadcast events. At the root of the behavior
event hierarchy is BehaviorEvent that extends javax.faces.event.FacesEvent. All events that are
broadcast by JSF behaviors must extend the javax.faces.event.BehaviorEvent abstract base class. The
parameter list for the constructor(s) of this event class must include a UIComponent, which identifies the component
from which the event will be broadcast to interested listeners, and a Behavior which identifies the behavior associated
with the component. The source component can be retrieved from the event object itself by calling getComponent
and the behavior can be retrieved by calling getBehavior. Additional constructor parameters and/or properties on the
event class can be used to relay additional information about the event.
In conformance to the naming patterns defined in the JavaBeans Specification, event classes typically have a class name
that ends with Event. The following method is available to determine the Behavior for the event (in addition to the
other methods inherited from javax.faces.event.FacesEvent:
public Behavior getBehavior()

For each event type that may be emitted, a corresponding listener interface must be created, which extends the
javax.faces.event.BehaviorListener interface. BehaviorListener extends from
javax.faces.event.FacesListener. The method signature(s) defined by the listener interface must take a
single parameter, an instance of the event class for which this listener is being created. A listener implementation class
will implement one or more of these listener interfaces, along with the event handling method(s) specified by those
interfaces. The event handling methods will be called during event broadcast, one per event.
In conformance to the naming patterns defined in the JavaBeans Specification, listener interfaces have a class name
based on the class name of the event being listened to, but with the word Listener replacing the trailing Event of the
event class name (thus, the listener for a FooEvent would be a FooListener). It is recommended that application
event listener interfaces follow this naming pattern as well.
3.7.10.3 Listener Registration

BehaviorListener registration follows the same conventions as outlined in Section 3.7.10.3 “Listener
Registration”.
3.7.11 Ajax Behavior
3.7.11.1 AjaxBehavior
The specification defines a single concrete ClientBehavior implementation:
javax.faces.component.behavior.AjaxBehavior. This class extends
javax.faces.component.behavior.ClientBehaviorBase. The presence of this behavior on a component
causes the rendering of JavaScript that will produce an Ajax request to the server using the JavaScript API outlined in

Section “JavaScript API”. This behavior may also broadcast javax.faces.event.AjaxBehaviorEvents to
registered javax.faces.event.AjaxBehaviorListener implementations. Refer to the javadocs for more
details about AjaxBehavior. [P1-start-ajaxbehavior]This behavior must define the behavior id
“javax.faces.behavior.Ajax”. The renderer type must also be “javax.faces.behavior.Ajax”.[P1-end]
3.7.11.2 Ajax Behavior Event / Listener Model

Corresponding to the standard behavior event classes described in the previous section the specification supports an
event listener model for broadcasting and handling AjaxBehavior events.
javax.faces.event.AjaxBehaviorEvent
This event type extends from javax.faces.event.BehaviorEvent and it is broadcast from an
AjaxBehavior. This class follows the standard JSF event / listener model, incorporating the usual methods as
outlined in Section 3.4 “Event and Listener Model”. This class is responsible for invoking the method implementation of
javax.faces.event.AjaxBehaviorListener.processAjaxBehavior. Refer to the javadocs for more
complete details about this class.
javax.faces.event.AjaxBehaviorListener
This listener type extends from javax.faces.event.BehaviorListener and it is invoked in response to
AjaxBehaviorEvents.
public void processAjaxBehavior(AjaxBehaviorEvent event)
AjaxBehaviorListener implementations implement this method to provide server side functionality in response to
AjaxBehaviorEvents. See the javadocs for more details about this class.
3.7.12 Adding Behavior To Components

Using the ClientBehaviorHolder interface (Section 3.2.9 “ClientBehaviorHolder”) ClientBehavior
instances can be added to components. For ClientBehavior implementations that extend UIComponentBase, the
minimal requirement is to override getEventNames() to return a non-empty collection of the event names exposed
by the ClientBehaviorHolder. A optional default event name may be specified as well. For example:

Here’s an example code snippet from one of the Html components:
public class HtmlCommandButton extends

javax.faces.component.UICommand implements ClientBehaviorHolder {
...
private static final Collection<String> EVENT_NAMES =
Collections.unmodifiableCollection(Arrays.asList("blur","change"
,"click","action",...));
public Collection<String> getEventNames() {

return EVENT_NAMES; }
public String getDefaultEventName() {

return "action"; }
...
Users of the component will be able to attach ClientBehavior instances to any of the event names specified by the
getEventNames() implementation by calling ClientBehaviorHolder.addBehavior(eventName,
clientBehavior).
3.7.13 Behavior Registration

JSF provides methods for registering Behavior implementations and these methods are similar to the methods used to
register converters and validators. Refer to Section 7.1.12 “Object Factories” for the specifics about these methods.
3.7.13.1 XML Registration

JSF provides the usual faces-config.xml registration of custom component behavior implementations.
<behavior>
<behavior-id>custom.behavior.Greet</behavior-id>
<behavior-class>greet.GreetBehavior</behavior-class>
</behavior>
3.7.13.2 Registration By Annotation

JSF provides the @FacesBehavior annotation for registering custom behavior implementations.
@FacesBehavior(value="custom.behavior.Greet")
public class GreetBehavior extends BehaviorBase implements
Serializable {
...
}

4
Standard User Interface Components
In addition to the abstract base class UIComponent and the abstract base class UIComponentBase, described in the
previous chapter, JSF provides a number of concrete user interface component implementation classes that cover the
most common requirements. In addition, component writers will typically create new components by subclassing one of
the standard component classes (or the UIComponentBase class). It is anticipated that the number of standard
component classes will grow in future versions of the JavaServer Faces specification.
Each of these classes defines the render-independent characteristics of the corresponding component as JavaBeans
component properties. Some of these properties may be value expressions that indirectly point to values related to the
current request, or to the properties of model data objects that are accessible through request-scope, session-scope, or
application-scope attributes. In addition, the rendererType property of each concrete implementation class is set to a
defined value, indicating that decoding and encoding for this component will (by default) be delegated to the
corresponding Renderer.
4.1 Standard User Interface Components

This section documents the features and functionality of the standard UIComponent classes and implementations that
are included in JavaServer Faces.
[P1-start-componentConstant]The implementation for each standard UIComponent class must specify two public static
final String constant values:
? COMPONENT_TYPE -- The standard component type identifier under which the corresponding component class is
registered with the Application object for this application. This value may be used as a parameter to the
createComponent() method.
? COMPONENT_FAMILY -- The standard component family identifier used to select an appropriate Renderer for this
component.[P1-end]
For all render-independent properties in the following sections (except for id, scope, and var) the value may either be
a literal, or it may come from a value expression. Please see Section 5.1 “Value Expressions” for more information.
The following UML class diagram shows the classes and interfaces in the package javax.faces.component.
Chapter 4 Standard User Interface Components 4-1

FIGURE 4-1 The javax.faces.component package

4.1.1 UIColumn
UIColumn (extends UIComponentBase) is a component that represents a single column of data with a parent
UIData component. The child components of a UIColumn will be processed once for each row in the data managed by
the parent UIData.
4.1.1.1 Component Type

The standard component type for UIColumn components is “javax.faces.Column”.
4.1.1.2 Properties
UIColumn adds the following render-independent properties:
footer RW UIComponent Convenience methods to get and set the “footer”

facet for this component.
header RW UIComponent Convenience methods to get and set the “header”
[P1-start-uicolumn]UIColumn specializes the behavior of render-independent properties inherited from the

parent class as follows:
? The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.Column”.
? The default value of the rendererType property must be set to null.[P1-end]
4.1.1.3 Methods
UIColumn adds no new processing methods.
4.1.1.4 Events
UIColumn adds no new event handling methods.

4.1.2 UICommand
UICommand (extends UIComponentBase; implements ActionSource) is a control which, when activated by the
user, triggers an application-specific “command” or “action.” Such a component is typically rendered as a push button, a
menu item, or a hyperlink.

The standard component type for UICommand components is “javax.faces.Command”.
4.1.2.2 Properties
UICommand adds the following render-independent properties.
value RW Object The value of this component, normally used as a

label.
See Section 3.2.1 “ActionSource” for information about properties introduced by the implemented classes.
[P1-start-uicommand]UICommand components specialize the behavior of render-independent properties inherited

from the parent class as follows:
? The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.Command”.
? The default value of the rendererType property must be set to “javax.faces.Button”.[P1-end]
4.1.2.3 Methods
UICommand adds no new processing methods. See Section 3.2.1 “ActionSource” for information about methods
introduced by the implemented classes.
4.1.2.4 Events
UICommand adds no new event processing methods. See Section 3.2.1 “ActionSource” for information about event
handling introduced by the implemented classes.

4.1.3 UIData
UIData (extends UIComponentBase; implements NamingContainer) is a component that represents a data
binding to a collection of data objects represented by a DataModel instance (see Section 4.2.1 “DataModel”). Only
children of type UIColumn should be processed by renderers associated with this component.

The standard component type for UIData components is “javax.faces.Data”
4.1.3.2 Properties
UIData adds the following render-independent properties.
dataModel protected DataModel The internal value representation of the UIData

RW instance. Subclasses might write to this property if
they want to restore the internal model during the
Restore View Phase or if they want to explicitly
refresh the model for the Render Response phase.
first RW int Zero-relative row number of the first row in the
underlying data model to be displayed, or zero to
start at the beginning of the data model.
footer RW UIComponent Convenience methods to get and set the “footer”
header RW UIComponent Convenience methods to get and set the “header”
rowCount RO int The number of rows in the underlying DataModel,
which can be -1 if the number of rows is unknown.
rowAvailable RO boolean Return true if there is row data available for the
currently specified rowIndex; else return false.
rowData RO Object The data object representing the data for the
currently selected rowIndex value.
rowIndex RW int Zero-relative index of the row currently being
accessed in the underlying DataModel, or -1 for
no current row. See below for further information.
rows RW int The number of rows (starting with the one identified
by the first property) to be displayed, or zero to
display the entire set of available rows.
value RW Object The DataModel instance representing the data to
which this component is bound, or a collection of
data for which a DataModel instance is
synthesized. See below for more information.
var RW String The request-scope attribute (if any) under which the
data object for the current row will be exposed when
iterating.
See Section 3.2.3 “NamingContainer” for information about properties introduced by the implemented classes.
[P1-start-uidata]UIData specializes the behavior of render-independent properties inherited from the parent
component as follows:

? The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.Data”.
? The default value of the rendererType property must be set to “javax.faces.Table”.[P1-end]
The current value identified by the value property is normally of type DataModel. [P1-start-uidataModel]However, a
DataModel wrapper instance must automatically be provided by the JSF implementation if the current value is of one
of the following types:
? java.util.List
? Array of java.util.Object
? java.sql.ResultSet (which therefore also supports javax.sql.RowSet)
? javax.servlet.jsp.jstl.sql.Result
? java.util.Map (uses the wrapper for java.lang.Iterable by providing access to
java.util.Map#entrySet())
? Any other Java object is wrapped by a DataModel instance with a single row.[P1-end]
Convenience implementations of DataModel are provided in the javax.faces.model package for each of the
above (see Section 4.2.1.4 “Concrete Implementations”), and must be used by the UIData component to create the
required DataModel wrapper.
4.1.3.3 Methods
UIData adds no new processing methods. However, the getDataModel() method is now protected, so implementations
have access to the underlying data model. See Section 3.2.3 “NamingContainer” for information about methods
introduced by the implemented classes.
UIData specializes the behavior of the getClientId() method inherited from its parent, in order to create a client
identifier that includes the current rowIndex value (if it is not -1). Because UIData is a NamingContainer, this
makes it possible for rendered client identifiers of child components to be row-specific.
UIData specializes the behavior of the queueEvent() method inherited from its parent, to wrap the specified event
(bubbled up from a child component) in a private wrapper containing the current rowIndex value, so that this rowIndex
can be reset when the event is later broadcast.
UIData specializes the behavior of the broadcast() method to unwrap the private wrapper (if this event was
wrapped), and call setRowIndex() to re-establish the context in which the event was queued, followed by delivery of
the event.
[P1-start-uidataDecode]UIData specializes the behavior of the processDecodes(),

processValidators(), and processUpdates() methods inherited from its parent as follows:
? For each of these methods, the UIData implementation must iterate over each row in the underlying data model,
starting with the row identified by the first property, for the number of rows indicated by the rows property, by
calling the setRowIndex() method.
? When iteration is complete, set the rowIndex property of this component, and of the underlying DataModel, to
zero, and remove any request attribute exposed via the var property.[P1-end]
UIData specializes the behavior of invokeOnComponent() inherited from UIComponentBase to examine the
argument clientId and extract the rowIndex, if any, and position the data properly before proceeding to locate the
component and invoke the callback. Upon normal or exception return from the callback the data must be repositioned to
match how it was before invoking the callback. Please see the javadocs for UIData.invokeOnComponent() for
more details.
4.1.3.4 Events
UIData adds no new event handling methods. SeeSection 3.2.3 “NamingContainer” for information about event
handling introduced by the implemented classes.

4.1.4 UIForm
UIForm (extends UIComponentBase; implements NamingContainer) is a component that represents an input
form to be presented to the user, and whose child components (among other things) represent the input fields to be
included when the form is submitted.
[P1-start-uiformEncodeEnd]The encodeEnd() method of the renderer for UIForm must call

ViewHandler.writeState() before writing out the markup for the closing tag of the form.[P1-end]This allows the
state for multiple forms to be saved.

The standard component type for UIForm components is “javax.faces.Form”.
4.1.4.2 Properties
UIForm adds the following render-independent properties.
prependId RW boolean If true, this UIForm instance does allow its id to be

pre-pendend to its descendent’s id during the
generation of clientIds for the descendents. The
default value of this property is true.
[P1-start-uiform]UIForm specializes the behavior of render-independent properties inherited from the parent
? The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.Form”.
? The default value of the rendererType property must be set to “javax.faces.Form”.[P1-end]
4.1.4.3 Methods.
public boolean isSubmitted();

public void setSubmitted(boolean submitted)
[P1-start-uiform-setSubmitted]The setSubmitted() method of each UIForm instance in the view must be called
during the Apply Request Values phase of the request processing lifecycle, during the processing performed by the
UIComponent.decode() method. If this UIForm instance represents the form actually being submitted on this
request, the parameter must be set to true; otherwise, it must be set to false.[P1-end] The standard implementation of
UIForm delegates the responsibility for calling this method to the Renderer associated with this instance..
[P1-start-uiform-submitted]The value of a UIForm's submitted property must not be saved as part of its state.[P1-
public void processDecodes(FacesContext context);
end]

Override UIComponent.processDecodes() to ensure that the submitted property is set for this component. If
the submitted property decodes to false, do not process the children and return immediately.
public void processValidators(FacesContext context);

public void processUpdates(FacesContext context);
Override processValidators() and processUpdates() to ensure that the children of this UIForm instance are
only processed if isSubmitted() returns true.
public void saveState(FacesContext context);
[P1-start-uiformSaveState]The saveState() method of UIForm must call setSubmitted(false) before calling

super.saveState() as an extra precaution to ensure the submitted state is not persisted across requests.[P1-end].
protected String getContainerClientId(FacesContext context);
[P1-start-uiformPrependId]Override the parent method to ensure that children of this UIForm instance in the view have
the form’s clientId prepended to their clientIds if and only if the form’s prependId property is true.[P1-end]
4.1.4.4 Events
UIForm adds no new event handling methods.

4.1.5 UIGraphic
UIGraphic (extends UIComponentBase) is a component that displays a graphical image to the user. The user cannot
manipulate this component; it is for display purposes only.

The standard component type for UIGraphic components is “javax.faces.Graphic”.
4.1.5.2 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the UIGraphic component:
url RW String The URL of the image to be displayed. If this URL

begins with a / character, it is assumed to be
relative to the context path of the current web
application. This property is a typesafe alias for the
value property, so that the actual URL to be used
can be acquired via a value expression.
value RW Object The value of this component, normally used as a
URL.
[P1-start-uigraphic]UIGraphic specializes the behavior of render-independent properties inherited from the

parent component as follows:
? The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.Graphic”.
? The default value of the rendererType property must be set to “javax.faces.Image”.[P1-end]
4.1.5.3 Methods
UIGraphic adds no new processing methods.
4.1.5.4 Events
UIGraphic does not originate any standard events.

4.1.6 UIInput
UIInput (extends UIOutput, implements EditableValueHolder) is a component that both displays the current
value of the component to the user (as UIOutput components do), and processes request parameters on the subsequent
request that need to be decoded.

The standard component type for UIInput components is “javax.faces.Input”.
4.1.6.2 Properties
UIInput adds the following renderer independent properties.:
requiredMess RW String ValueExpression enabled property. If non-null, this

age property is used as the summary and detail
strings of the FacesMessage that is queued on the
FacesContext instead of the default message for
the required validaiton failure. Note that the
message is fully internationalizable via either the
f:loadBundle tag or via ResourceBundle
access from the EL.
converterMes RW String ValueExpression enabled property. If non-null, this
sage property is used as the summary and detail
conversion failure. Note that the message is fully
internationalizable via either the f:loadBundle
tag or via ResourceBundle access from the EL.
validatorMes RW String ValueExpression enabled property. If non-null, this
sage property is used as the summary and detail
validation failure. Note that the message is fully
internationalizable via either the f:loadBundle
tag or via ResourceBundle access from the EL.
See Section 3.2.7 “EditableValueHolder” for information about properties introduced by the implemented interfaces.
[P1-start-uiinput]UIInput specializes the behavior of render-independent properties inherited from the parent component
as follows:
? The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.Input”.
? The default value of the rendererType property must be set to “javax.faces.Text”.
? The Converter specified by the converter property (if any) must also be used to perform String->Object
conversions during decoding.[P1-end]
? If the value property has an associated ValueExpression, the setValue() method of that
ValueExpression will be called during the Update Model Values phase of the request processing lifecycle to push
the local value of the component back to the corresponding model bean property.

4.1.6.3 Methods
The following method is used during the Update Model Values phase of the request processing lifecycle, to push the
converted (if necessary) and validated (if necessary) local value of this component back to the corresponding model bean
property.
public void updateModel(FacesContext context);
The following method is over-ridden from UIComponent:
public void broadcast(FacesEvent event);
In addition to the default UIComponent.broadcast(javax.faces.event.FacesEvent) processing, pass the

ValueChangeEvent being broadcast to the method referenced by the valueChangeListener property (if any).
public void validate(FacesContext context);
Perform the algorithm described in the javadoc to validate the local value of this UIInput..
public void resetValue();
Perform the algorithm described in the javadoc to reset this UIInput to the state where it has no local value. This
method does not touch the value expresson associated with the “value” property.
4.1.6.4 Events
All events are described in Section 3.2.7 “EditableValueHolder”.

4.1.7 UIMessage
UIMessage (extends UIComponentBase) encapsulates the rendering of error message(s) related to a specified input
component.

The standard component type for UIMessage components is “javax.faces.Message”.
4.1.7.2 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the UIMessage component:
for RW String Identifier of the component for which to render error

messages. If this component is within the same
NamingContainer as the target component, this must
be the component identifier. Otherwise, it must be
an absolute component identifier (starting with “:”).
See the UIComponent.findComponent() Javadocs
for more information.
showDetail RW boolean Flag indicating whether the “detail” property of
messages for the specified component should be
rendered. Default value is “true”.
showSumma RW boolean Flag indicating whether the “summary” property of
ry messages for the specified component should be
rendered. Default value is “false”.
[P1-start-uimessage]UIMessage specializes the behavior of render-independent properties inherited from the

? The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.Message”.
? The default value of the rendererType property must be set to “javax.faces.Message”.[P1-end]
4.1.7.3 Methods.
UIMessage adds no new processing methods.
4.1.7.4 Events
UIMessage adds no new event handling methods.

4.1.8 UIMessages
UIMessage (extends UIComponentBase) encapsulates the rendering of error message(s) not related to a specified
input component, or all enqueued messages.

The standard component type for UIMessage components is “javax.faces.Messages”.
4.1.8.2 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the UIMessages component:
globalOn RW boolean Flag indicating whether only messages not

ly associated with any specific component should be
rendered. If not set, all messages will be rendered.
Default value is “false”.
showDetail RW boolean Flag indicating whether the “detail” property of
messages for the specified component should be
rendered. Default value is “false”.
showSumma RW boolean Flag indicating whether the “summary” property of
ry messages for the specified component should be
rendered. Default value is “true”.
[P1-stat-uimessages]UIMessages specializes the behavior of render-independent properties inherited from the

? The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.Messages”.
? The default value of the rendererType property must be set to “javax.faces.Messages”.[P1-end]
4.1.8.3 Methods.
UIMessages adds no new processing methods.
4.1.8.4 Events
UIMessages adds no new event handling methods.

4.1.9 UIOutcomeTarget
UIOutcomeTarget (UIOutput) is a component that has a value and an outcome, either which may optionally be
retrieved from a model tier bean via a value expression (see Section 5.1 “Value Expressions”), and is displayed to the
user as a hyperlink, appearing in the form of a link or a button. The user cannot modify the value of the hyperlink, as it's
for display purposes only. The target URL of the hyperlink is derived by passing the outcome to the
ConfigurationNavigationHandler to retrieve the matching NavigationCase and then using the
ViewHandler to translate the NavigationCase into an action URL. When the client activates the hyperlink,
typically by clicking it, the target URL is retrieved using a non-faces request and the response is rendered.
This component introduces a scenario known as "preemptive navigation". The navigation case is resolved during the
Render Response phase, before the client activates the link (and may never activate the link). The predetermined
navigation is pursued after the client activates the link. In contrast, the UICommand components resolve and execute the
navigation at once, after the Invoke Application phase.
The UIOutcomeTarget component allows the developer to leverage the navigation model while at the same time
being able to generate bookmarkable, non-faces requests to be included in the response.

The standard component type for UIOutcomeTarget is "javax.faces.OutcomeTarget".
4.1.9.2 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by thec component:
Name Access Type
Outcome RW String The logical outcome that is used

to resolve a NavigationCase which
in turn is used to build the
target URL of this component.
Default value is the current view
ID.
includePageParams RW boolean Flag indicating whether the page

parameters should be appended to
the query string of the target
URL. Default value is "false".
[P1-start-uioutcometarget]UIOutcomeTarget specializes the behavior of render-independent properties

inherited from the parent component as follows:
? The default value of the family property must be set to "javax.faces.UIOutcomeTarget"
? The default value of the rendererType property must be set to "javax.faces.Link" [P1-end]
4.1.9.3 Methods
The UIOutcomeTarget adds no event handling methods.
4.1.9.4 Events
The UIOutcomeTarget adds no event handling methods.

4.1.10 UIOutput
UIOutput (extends UIComponentBase; implements ValueHolder) is a component that has a value, optionally
retrieved from a model tier bean via a value expression (see Section 5.1 “Value Expressions”), that is displayed to the
user. The user cannot directly modify the rendered value; it is for display purposes only:

The standard component type for UIOutput components is “javax.faces.Output”.
4.1.10.2 Properties
UIOutput adds no new render-independent properties. See Section 3.2.6 “ValueHolder” for information about
properties introduced by the implemented classes.
[P1-start-uioutput]UIOutput specializes the behavior of render-independent properties inherited from the

? The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.Output”.
? The default value of the rendererType property must be set to “javax.faces.Text”.[P1-end]
4.1.10.3 Methods
UIOutput adds no new processing methods. See Section 3.2.6 “ValueHolder” for information about methods
introduced by the implemented interfaces.
4.1.10.4 Events
UIOutput does not originate any standard events. See Section 3.2.6 “ValueHolder” for information about events
introduced by the implemented interfaces.

4.1.11 UIPanel
UIPanel (extends UIComponentBase) is a component that manages the layout of its child components.

The standard component type for UIPanel components is “javax.faces.Panel”.
4.1.11.2 Properties
UIPanel adds no new render-independent properties.
[P1-start-uipanel]UIPanel specializes the behavior of render-independent properties inherited from the parent
? The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.Panel”.
4.1.11.3 Methods
UIPanel adds no new processing methods.
4.1.11.4 Events
UIPanel does not originate any standard events

4.1.12 UIParameter
UIParameter (extends UIComponentBase is a component that represents an optionally named configuration
parameter that affects the rendering of its parent component. UIParameter components do not generally have
rendering behavior of their own.

The standard component type for UIParameter components is “javax.faces.Parameter”.
4.1.12.2 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the UIParameter component:
name RW String The optional name for this parameter.

value RW Object The value for this parameter.
[P1-start-uiparameter]UIParameter specializes the behavior of render-independent properties inherited from

the parent component as follows:
? The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.Parameter”.
4.1.12.3 Methods
UIParameter adds no new processing methods.
4.1.12.4 Events
UIParameter does not originate any standard events

4.1.13 UISelectBoolean
UISelectBoolean (extends UIInput) is a component that represents a single boolean (true or false) value. It is
most commonly rendered as a checkbox.

The standard component type for UISelectBoolean components is “javax.faces.SelectBoolean”.
4.1.13.2 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the UISelectBoolean component:
selected RW boolean The selected state of this component. This property

is a typesafe alias for the value property, so that
the actual state to be used can be acquired via a
value expression.
[P1-start-uiselectboolean]UISelectBoolean specializes the behavior of render-independent properties

inherited from the parent component as follows:
? The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.SelectBoolean”.
? The default value of the rendererType property must be set to “javax.faces.Checkbox”.[P1-end]
4.1.13.3 Methods
UISelectBoolean adds no new processing methods.
4.1.13.4 Events
UISelectBoolean inherits the ability to send ValueChangeEvent events from its parent UIInput component.

4.1.14 UISelectItem
UISelectItem (extends UIComponentBase) is a component that may be nested inside a UISelectMany or
UISelectOne component, and represents exactly one SelectItem instance in the list of available options for that
parent component.

The standard component type for UISelectItem components is “javax.faces.SelectItem”.
4.1.14.2 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the UISelectItem component:
itemDesc RW String The optional description of this available selection

ription item. This may be useful for tools.
itemDisable RW boolean Flag indicating that any synthesized SelectItem
d object should have its disabled property set to
true.
itemLabel RW String The localized label that will be presented to the user
for this selection item.
itemValue RW Object The server-side value of this item, of the same basic
data type as the parent component’s value. If the
parent component type’s value is a value expression
that points at a primitive, this value must be of the
corresponding wrapper type.
value RW javax.faces.mod The SelectItem instance associated with this
el.SelectItem component.
[P1-start-uiselectitem]UISelectItem specializes the behavior of render-independent properties inherited

? The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.SelectItem”.
? The default value of the rendererType property must be set to null.
? If the value property is non-null, it must contain a SelectItem instance used to configure the selection item
specified by this component.
? If the value property is a value expression, it must point at a SelectItem instance used to configure the selection
item specified by this component.
? If the value property is null, and there is no corresponding value expression, the itemDescription,
itemDisabled, itemLabel and itemValue properties must be used to construct a new SelectItem
representing the selection item specified by this component.[P1-end]
4.1.14.3 Methods
UISelectItem adds no new processing methods.
4.1.14.4 Events
UISelectItem does not originate any standard events.

4.1.15 UISelectItems
UISelectItems (extends UIComponentBase) is a component that may be nested inside a UISelectMany or
UISelectOne component, and represents zero or more SelectItem instances for adding selection items to the list of
available options for that parent component.

The standard component type for UISelectItems components is “javax.faces.SelectItems”.
4.1.15.2 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the UISelectItems component:
value RW See below The SelectItem instances associated with this

component.
[P1-start-uiselectitems]UISelectItems specializes the behavior of render-independent properties inherited

? The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.SelectItems”.
? The default value of the rendererType property must be set to null.
? If the value property (or the value returned by a value expression associated with the value property) is non-null,
it must contain a SelectItem bean, an array of SelectItem beans, a Collection of SelectItem beans, or
a Map, where each map entry is used to construct a SelectItem bean with the key as the label property of the
bean, and the value as the value property of the bean (which must be of the same basic type as the value of the
parent component’s value).[P1-end]
4.1.15.3 Methods
UISelectItems adds no new processing methods.
4.1.15.4 Events
UISelectItems does not originate any standard events.

4.1.16 UISelectMany
UISelectMany (extends UIInput) is a component that represents one or more selections from a list of available
options. It is most commonly rendered as a combobox or a series of checkboxes.

The standard component type for UISelectMany components is “javax.faces.SelectMany”.
4.1.16.2 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the UISelectMany component:
selected RW Object[] or The selected item values of this component. This

Values array of property is a typesafe alias for the value property,
primitives so that the actual state to be used can be acquired
via a value expression.
[P1-start-uiselectmany]UISelectMany specializes the behavior of render-independent properties inherited

from the parent component as follows:
? The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.SelectMany”.
? The default value of the rendererType property must be set to “javax.faces.Listbox”.[P1-end]
? See the class Javadocs for UISelectMany for additional requirements related to implicit conversions for the value
property.
4.1.16.3 Methods
[P1-start-uselectmany-validate]UISelectMany must provide a specialized validate() method which
ensures that any decoded values are valid options (from the nested UISelectItem and UISelectItems
children).[P1-end]
4.1.16.4 Events
UISelectMany inherits the ability to send ValueChangeEvent events from its parent UIInput component.

4.1.17 UISelectOne
UISelectOne (extends UIInput) is a component that represents zero or one selection from a list of available options.
It is most commonly rendered as a combobox or a series of radio buttons.

The standard component type for UISelectOne components is “javax.faces.SelectOne”.
4.1.17.2 Properties
UISelectOne adds no new render-independent properties.
[P1-start-uiselectone]UISelectOne specializes the behavior of render-independent properties inherited from

? The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.SelectOne”.
? The default value of the rendererType property must be set to “javax.faces.Menu”.[P1-end]
4.1.17.3 Methods
[P1-start-uiselectone-validate]UISelectOne must provide a specialized validate() method which
ensures that any decoded value is a valid option (from the nested UISelectItem and UISelectItems children).[P1-
end]
4.1.17.4 Events
UISelectOne inherits the ability to send ValueChangeEvent events from its parent UIInput component.

4.1.18 UIViewParameter
UIViewParameter (extends UIInput) is a component that allows the query parameters included in the request by
UIOutcomTarget renderers to participate in the lifecycle. Please see the javadocs for the normative speficication of
this component.Events.

4.1.19 UIViewRoot
UIViewRoot (extends UIComponentBase;) represents the root of the component tree.

The standard component type for UIViewRoot components is “javax.faces.ViewRoot”
4.1.19.2 Properties
The following render-independent properties are added by the UIViewRoot component:
locale RW java.util.Locale The Locale to be used in

localizing the response for this
view.
renderKitId RW String The id of the RenderKit used
to render this page.
viewId RW String The view identifier for this view.
beforePhaseListener RW MethodExpressi MethodExpression that will
on be invoked before all lifecycle
phases except for Restore View.
afterPhaseListener RW MethodExpressi MethodExpression that will be
on invoked after all lifecycle phases
except for Restore View.
viewMap RW java.util.Map The Map that acts as the interface
to the data store that is the "view
scope".
For an existing view, the locale property may be modified only from the event handling portion of Process Validations
phase through Invoke Application phase, unless it is modified by an Apply Request Values event handler for an
ActionSource or EditableValueHolder component that has its immediate property set to true (which
therefore causes Process Validations, Update Model Values, and Invoke Application phases to be skipped).
[P1-start-viewmap]The viewMap property is lazily created the first time it is accessed, and it is destroyed when a
different UIViewRoot instance is installed from a call to FacesContext.setViewRoot(). After the Map is
created a PostConstructViewMapEvent must be published using UIViewRoot as the event source. Immediately
before the Map is destroyed, a PreDestroyViewMapEvent must be published using UIViewRoot as the event
source. [P1-end]
[P1-start-uiviewroot]UIViewRoot specializes the behavior of render-independent properties inherited from

? The default value of the family property must be set to “javax.faces.ViewRoot”.

4.1.19.3 Methods
The following methods are used for adding UIComponent resources to a target area in the view, and they are also used
for retrieving UIComponent resources from a target area in the view.
public void addComponentResource(FacesContext context,

UIComponent componentResource);
Add componentResource, that is assumed to represent a resource instance, to the current view. A resource instance
is rendered by a resource Renderer (such as ScriptRenderer, StylesheetRenderer) as described in the
Standard HTML RenderKit. This method will cause the resource to be rendered in the “head” element of the view.
public void addComponentResource(FacesContext context,

UIComponent componentResource, String target);
Add componentResource, that is assumed to represent a resource instance, to the current view at the specified
target location. [P1-start-addComponentResource] The resource must be added using the algorithm outlined in this
method’s Javadocs.[P1-end]
public List<UIComponent> getComponentResources(String target);
Return a List of UIComponent instances residing under the facet identified by target. Each UIComponent
instance in the List represents a resource. [P1-start-getCompRes] The List must be formulated in accordance with
this method’s Javadocs. [P1-end]
UIViewRoot specializes the behavior of the UIComponent.queueEvent() method to maintain a list of queued
events that can be transmitted later. It also specializes the behavior of the processDecodes(),
processValidators(), processUpdates(), and processApplication() methods to broadcast queued
events to registered listeners. UIViewRoot clears any remaining events from the event queue in these methods if
responseComplete() or renderResponse() has been set on the FacesContext. Please see Section 2.2.2
“Apply Request Values”, Section 2.2.3 “Process Validations”, Section 2.2.4 “Update Model Values” and Section 2.2.5
“Invoke Application” for more details.
4.1.19.4 Events
UIViewRoot is a source of PhaseEvent events, which are emitted when the instance moves through all phases of the
request processing lifecycle except Restore View. This phase cannot emit events from UIViewRoot because the
UIViewRoot instance isn’t created when this phase starts. See Section 12.2 “PhaseEvent” and Section 12.3
“PhaseListener”for more details on the event and listener class.
public void addPhaseListener(PhaseListener listener);
public void removePhaseListener(VPhaseListener listener);
public List<PhaseListener> getPhaseListeners();
[P1-start-events]UIViewRoot must listen for the top level PostAddToViewEvent event sent by the Restore View
phase. Refer to Section 2.2.1 “Restore View” for more details about the publishing of this event. Upon receiving this
event, UIViewRoot must cause any “after” Restore View phase listeners to be called.[P1-end]

UIViewRoot is also the source for several kinds of system events. The system must publish a
PostAddToViewEvent, with the UIViewRoot as the source, during the Restore View phase, immediately after the
new UIViewRoot is set into the FacesContext for the request. The system must publish a PreRenderView event,
with UIViewRoot as the source, during the Render Response phase, immediately before
ViewHandler.renderView() is called.
4.1.19.5 Partial Processing

UIViewRoot adds special behavior to processDecodes, processValidators, processUpdates,
getRendersChildren and encodeChildren to facilitate partial processing - namely the ability to have one or
more components processed through the execute and/or render phases of the request processing lifecycle. Refer to
Section 13.4 “Partial View Traversal”, Section 13.4.2 “Partial View Processing”, Section 13.4.3 “Partial View
Rendering” for an overview of partial processing. [P1-start-viewroot-partial]UIViewRoot must perform partial
processing as outlined in the Javadocs for the “processXXX” and “encodeXXX” methods if the current request is a
partial request.[P1-end]

4.2 Standard UIComponent Model Beans
Several of the standard UIComponent subclasses described in the previous section reference JavaBean components to
represent the underlying model data that is rendered by those components. The following subsections define the standard
UIComponent model bean classes.
4.2.1 DataModel
DataModel is an abstract base class for creating wrappers around arbitrary data binding technologies. It can be used to
adapt a wide variety of data sources for use by JavaServer Faces components that want to support access to an
underlying data set that can be modelled as multiple rows. The data underlying a DataModel instance is modelled as a
collection of row objects that can be accessed randomly via a zero-relative index
4.2.1.1 Properties
An instance of DataModel supports the following properties:
rowAvailable RO boolean Flag indicating whether the current rowIndex value points at an
actual row in the underlying data.
rowCount RO int The number of rows of data objects represented by this DataModel
instance, or -1 if the number of rows is unknown.
rowData RO Object An object representing the data for the currently selected row.
DataModel implementations must return an object that be
successfully processed as the “base” parameter for the
PropertyResolver in use by this application. If the current
rowIndex value is -1, null is returned.
rowIndex RW int Zero-relative index of the currently selected row, or -1 if no row is
currently selected. When first created, a DataModel instance
must return -1 for this property.
wrappedData RW Object Opaque property representing the data object wrapped by this
DataModel. Each individual implementation will restrict the types
of Object(s) that it supports.
4.2.1.2 Methods
DataModel must provide an iterator() to iterate over the row data for this model.
4.2.1.3 Events
No events are generated for this component.
4.2.1.4 Concrete Implementations

[P1-start-datamodel]The JSF implementation must provide concrete implementations of DataModel (in the
javax.faces.model package) for the following data wrapping scenarios:

? ArrayDataModel -- Wrap an array of Java objects.
? ListDataModel -- Wrap a java.util.List of Java objects.
? ResultDataModel -- Wrap an object of type javax.servlet.jsp.jstl.sql.Result (the query results
from JSTL’s SQL tag library)
? ResultSetDataModel -- Wrap an object of type java.sql.ResultSet (which therefore means that
javax.sql.RowSet instances are also supported).
? ScalarDataModel -- Wrap a single Java object in what appears to be a one-row data set.
Each concrete DataModel implementation must extend the DataModel abstract base class, and must provide a
constructor that accepts a single parameter of the object type being wrapped by that implementation (in addition to a
zero-args constructor).[P1-end] See the JavaDocs for specific implementation requirements on DataModel defined
methods, for each of the concrete implementation classes.

4.2.2 SelectItem
SelectItem is a utility class representing a single choice, from among those made available to the user, for a
UISelectMany or UISelectOne component. It is not itself a UIComponent subclass.
4.2.2.1 Properties
An instance of SelectItem supports the following properties:
description RW String A description of this selection item, for use in development tools.
disabled RW boolean Flag indicating that this option should be rendered in a fashion that
disables selection by the user. Default value is false.
label RW String Label of this selection item that should be rendered to the user.
value RW Object The server-side value of this item, of the same basic data type as
the parent component’s value. If the parent component type’s value
is a value expression that points at a primitive, this value must be
of the corresponding wrapper type.
4.2.2.2 Methods
An instance of SelectItem supports no additional public processing methods.
4.2.2.3 Events
An instance of SelectItem supports no events.

4.2.3 SelectItemGroup
SelectItemGroup is a utility class extending SelectItem, that represents a group of subordinate SelectItem
instances that can be rendered as a “sub-menu” or “option group”. Renderers will typically ignore the value property
of this instance, but will use the label property to render a heading for the sub-menu.
4.2.3.1 Properties
An instance of SelectItemGroup supports the following additional properties:
selectItems RW SelectItem[] Array of SelectItem instances representing the subordinate

selection items that are members of the group represented by this
SelectItemGroup instance.
Note that, since SelectItemGroup is a subclass of SelectItem, SelectItemGroup instances can be included in
the selectItems property in order to create hierarchies of subordinate menus. However, some rendering environments
may limit the depth to which such nesting is supported; for example, HTML/4.01 does not allow an <optgroup> to be
nested inside another <optgroup> within a <select> control.
4.2.3.2 Methods
An instance of SelectItemGroup supports no additional public processing methods.
4.2.3.3 Events
An instance of SelectItemGroup supports no events.

5-
Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility
In the descriptions of the standard user interface component model, it was noted that all attributes, and nearly all
properties can have a value expression associated with them (see Section 3.1.4 “ValueExpression properties”). In
addition, many properties, such as action, actionListener, validator, and valueChangeListener can be
defined by a method expression pointing at a public method in some class to be executed. This chapter describes the
mechanisms and APIs that JavaServer Faces utilizes in order to evaluate value expressions and method expressions.
JavaServer Faces relies on the Unified Expression Language (Unified EL, or just EL) provided by version 2.1 of the
JavaServer Pages specification (JSR-245). The EL is described in a separate specification document delivered as part of
the JSP 2.1 spec. Please consult that document for complete details about the EL.
Versions 1.0 and 1.1 of JavaServer Faces included a built in expression language and required an implementation of it.
The API for this old JSF EL is still preserved as deprecated classes and methods, and implementations must still support
that API. Please consult the Section 2.3.0.1 “Guide to Deprecated Methods Relating to the Unified EL and their
Corresponding Replacements” for details. This chapter will focus exclusively on how Faces leverages and integrates with
the Unified EL. It does not describe how the Unified EL operates.
5.1 Value Expressions
5.1.1 Overview
To support binding of attribute and property of values to dynamically calculated results, the name of the attribute or
property can be associated with a value expression using the setValueExpression() method. Whenever the
dynamically calculated result of evaluating the expression is required, the getValue() method of the
ValueExpression is called, which returns the evaluated result. Such expressions can be used, for example, to
dynamically calculate a component value to be displayed:
<h:outputText value=”#{customer.name}”/>
which, when this page is rendered, will retrieve the bean stored under the “customer” key, then acquire the name
property from that bean and render it.
Besides the component value itself, value expressions can be used to dynamically compute attributes and properties. The
following example checks a boolean property manager on the current user bean (presumably representing the
logged-in user) to determine whether the salary property of an employee should be displayed or not:
<h:outputText rendered=”#{user.manager}” value=

”#{employee.salary}”/>
Chapter 5 Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5-1

which sets the rendered property of the component to false if the user is not a manager, and therefore causes this
component to render nothing.
The Unified Expression Language has a powerful set of coercion rules that automatically convert the type of the value to
the appropriate type. These rules occasionally rely on the JavaBeans PropertyEditor facility to perform this
conversion. Note that this conversion is entirely separate from normal JSF Conversion.
Value expressions can also be used to set a value from the user into the item obtained by evaluating the expression. For
example:
<h:inputText value=”#{employee.number}”/>
When the page is rendered, the expression is evaluated as an r-value and the result is displayed as the default value in the
text field. When the page is submitted, the expression is evaluated as an l-value, and the value entered by the user
(subject to conversion and validation as usual) is pushed into the expression.
5.1.2 Value Expression Syntax and Semantics

Please see Section 1.2 of the Expression Language Specification, Version 2.1 for the complete specification of
ValueExpression syntax and semantics.
5.2 MethodExpressions
Method expressions are a very similar to value expressions, but rather than supporting the dynamic retrieval and setting
of properties, method expressions support the invocation (i.e. execution) of an arbitrary public method of an arbitrary
object, passing a specified set of parameters, and returning the result from the called method (if any). They may be used
in any phase of the request processing lifecycle; the standard JSF components and framework employ them
(encapsulated in a MethodExpression object) at the following times:
? During Apply Request Values or Invoke Application phase (depending upon the state of the immediate property),
components that implement the ActionSource2 behavioral interface (see Section 3.2.2 “ActionSource2”) utilize
MethodExpressions as follows:
? If the actionExpression property is specified, it must be a MethodExpression expression that identifies
an Application Action method (see Section 7.3 “Application Actions”) that takes no parameters and returns a
String.
? It’s possible to have a method expression act as an ActionListener by using the classs
MethodExpressionActionListener to wrap a method expression and calling the
addActionListener() method on the ActionSource. The method expression wrapped inside the
MethodExpressionActionListener must identify a public method that accepts an ActionEvent (see
Section 3.4.2.1 “Event Classes”) instance, and has a return type of void. The called method has exactly the same
responsibilities as the processAction() method of an ActionListener instance (see Section 3.4.2.2
“Listener Classes”) that was built in to a separate Java class.
? During the Apply Request Values or Process Validations phase (depending upon the state of the immediate
property), components that implement EditableValueHolder (such as UIInput and its subclasses) components
(see Section 3.2.7 “EditableValueHolder”) utilize method expressions as follows:
? The user can use the MethodExpressionValidator class to wrap a method expression that identifies a public
method that accepts a FacesContext instance and a UIComponent instance, and an Object containing the
value to be validated, and has a return type of void. This MethodExpressionValidator instance can then
be added as a normal Validator using the EditableValueHolder.addValidator() method. The called
method has exactly the same responsibilities as the validate() method of a Validator instance (see
Section 3.5.2 “Validator Classes”) that was built in to a separate Java class.

? The user can use the MethodExpressionValueChangeListener class to wrap a method expression that
identifies a public method that accepts a ValueChangeEvent (see Section 3.4.2.1 “Event Classes”) instance,
and has a return type of void. This MethodExpressionValueChangeListener instance can then be added
as a normal ValueChangeListener using EditableValueHolder.addValueChangeListener(). The called method
has exactly the same responsibilities as the processValueChange() method of a ValueChangeListener
instance (see Section 3.4.2.2 “Listener Classes”) that was built in to a separate Java class.
Here is the set of component properties that currently support MethodBinding, and the method signatures to which
they must point:
TABLE 5-1 component properties whose type is DEPRECATED MethodBinding
component property method signature
DEPRECATED public String <methodName>();

action
DEPRECATED public void
actionListener <methodName>(javax.faces.event.ActionEvent)
;
validator <methodName>(javax.faces.context.FacesConte
xt, javax.faces.component.UIComponent,
java.lang.Object);
valueChangeListener <methodName>(javax.faces.event.ValueChangeE
vent);
Note that for any of the parameters for the above methods may also be a subclass of what is listed above. For the above
properties that are marked as DEPRECATED, wrapper classes have been added that wrap a MethodExpression and
implement the appropriate listener interface, allowing the wrapped expression to be added as a strongly typed listener,
using the normal add*() pattern Here is the list of such wrapper classes:
TABLE 5-2 MethodExpression wrappers to take the place of DEPRECATED MethodBinding properties
component listener
property Wrapper class method signature
actionListener javax.faces.event.Me public void

thodExpressionAction <methodName>(javax.faces.event
Listener .ActionEvent);
validator javax.faces.validato public void
r.MethodExpressionVa <methodName>(javax.faces.conte
lidator xt.FacesContext,
javax.faces.component.UICompon
ent, java.lang.Object);
valueChangeLis javax.faces.event.Me public void
tener thodExpressionValueC <methodName>(javax.faces.event
hangeListener .ValueChangeEvent);
The MethodBinding typed action property of ActionSource is deprecated and has been replaced by the
MethodExpression typed actionExpression property of ActionSource2.

5.2.1 MethodExpression Syntax and Semantics
The exact syntax and semantics of MethodExpression are now the domain of the Unified EL. Please see Section 1.2.1.2
of the Expression Language Specification, Version 2.1.
5.3 The Managed Bean Facility

As of version 2.3 of this specification, use of the managed bean facility as specified in this section is strongly
discouraged. A better and more cohesively integrated solution for solving the same problem is to use Contexts and
Dependency Injection (CDI), as specified in JSR-365. (See Section “Other Java™ Platform Specifications”).
Perhaps the biggest value-add of bringing EL concepts to Faces happens when the EL is combined with the managed
bean facility. This feature allows the user to configure an entire complex tree of POJO beans, including how they should
be scoped and populated with initial values, and expose them to EL expressions. Please see Section 5.3.1 “Managed
Bean Configuration Example”.
The Managed Bean Creation facility is configured by the existence of <managed-bean> elements in one or more
application configuration resources (see Section 11.4 “Application Configuration Resources”). Note that a special
provision has been made for application configuration resource files residing within META-INF/managed-
beans.xml entries on the application classpath. Please see Section 11.4.5 “Application Configuration Resource
Format” for the normative spec requirement. Such elements describe the characteristics of a bean to be created, and
properties to be initialized, with the following nested elements:
? <managed-bean-name> -- The key under which the created bean can be retrieved; also the key in the scope under
which the created bean will be stored, unless the value of <managed-bean-scope> is set to none.
? <managed-bean-class> -- The fully qualified class name of the application class used to instantiate a new
instance. This class must conform to JavaBeans design patterns -- in particular, it must have a public zero-args
constructor, and must have public property setters for any properties referenced with nested <managed-property>
elements -- or it must be a class that implements java.util.Map or java.util.List.
? <managed-bean-scope> -- The scope (request, view, session, or application) under which the newly
instantiated bean will be stored after creation (under the key specified by the <managed-bean-name> element), or
none for a bean that should be instantiated and returned, but not stored in any scope. The latter option is useful when
dynamically constructing trees of related objects, as illustrated in the following example.
The runtime must must allow the value of this element to be an EL ValueExpression. If so, and the expression
evaluates to null, an informative error message including the expression string and the name of the bean must be
logged. If the expression evaluates to a Map, that Map is used as the scope into which the bean will be stored. If
storing the bean into the Map causes an Exception, the exception is allowed to flow up to the
ExceptionHandler. If the ValueExpression does not evaluate to a Map, a FacesException must be
thrown with a message that includes the expression string, the toString() of the value, and the type of the value.
? <list-entries> or <map-entries> -- Used to configure managed beans that are themselves instances of
java.util.List or java.util.Map, respectively. See below for details on the contents of these elements.
? <managed-property> -- Zero or more elements used to initialize the properties of the newly instantiated bean
(see below).
After the new managed bean instance is instantiated, but before it is placed into the specified scope (if any), each nested
<managed-property> element must be processed and a call to the corresponding property setter must be made to
initialize the value of the corresponding property. If the managed bean has properties not referenced by <managed-
property> elements, the values of such properties will not be affected by the creation of this managed bean; they will
retain whatever default values are established by the constructor.
Each <managed-property> element contains the following elements used to configure the execution of the
corresponding property setter call:
? <property-name> -- The property name of the property to be configured. The actual property setter method to be
called will be determined as described in the JavaBeans Specification.

? Exactly one of the following sub-elements that can be used to initialize the property value in a number of different
ways:
? <map-entries> -- A set of key/value pairs used to initialize the contents of a property of type
java.util.Map (see below for more details).
? <null-value/> -- An empty element indicating that this property must be explicitly initialized to null. This
element is not allowed if the underlying property is of a Java primitive type.
? <value> -- A String value that will have any leading and trailing spaces stripped, and then be converted
(according to the rules described in the JSP Specification for the <jsp:setProperty> action) to the corresponding
data type of the property, prior to setting it to this value.
? <list-entries> -- A set of values used to initialize the contents of a property of type array or
java.util.List. See below for more information.
As described above, the <map-entries> element is used to initialize the key-value pairs of a property of type
java.util.Map. This element may contain the following nested elements:
? <key-class> -- Optional element specifying the fully qualified class name for keys in the map to be created. If not
specified, java.lang.String is used.
? <value-class> -- Optional element specifying the fully qualified class name for values in the map to be created.
If not specified, java.lang.String is used.
? <map-entry> -- Zero or more elements that define the actual key-value pairs for a single entry in the map. Nested
inside is a <key> element to define the key, and then exactly one of <null-value>, <value> to define the value.
These elements have the same meaning as when nested in a <managed-property> element, except that they refer
to an individual map entry’s value instead of the entire property value.
As described above, the <list-entries> element is used to initialize a set of values for a property of type array or
java.util.List. This element may contain the following nested elements:
? <value-class> -- Optional element specifying the fully qualified class name for values in the map to be created.
If not specified, java.lang.String is used.
? Zero or more elements of type <null-value>, <value> to define the individual values to be initialized. These
elements have the same meaning as when nested in a <managed-property> element, except that they refer to an
individual list element instead of the entire property value.
The following general rules apply to the operation of the Managed Bean Creation facility:
? Properties are assigned in the order that their <managed-property> elements are listed in the application
configuration resource.
? If a managed bean has writeable properties that are not mentioned in <managed-property> elements, the values
of those properties are not assigned any values.
? The bean instantiation and population with properties must be done lazily, when an EL expression causes the bean to
be referenced. For example, this is the case when a ValueExpression or MethodExpression has its
getValue() or setValue() method called.
? Due to the above mentioned laziness constraint, any error conditions that occur below are only required to be
manifested at runtime. However, it is conceivable that tools may want to detect these errors earlier; this is perfectly
acceptable. The presense of any of the errors described below, until the end of this section, must not prevent the
application from deploying and being made available to service requests.
? [P1-start managed bean config error conditions] It is an error to specify a managed bean class that does not exist, or
that cannot be instantiated with a public, zero-args constructor.
? It is an error to specify a <property-name> for a property that does not exist, or does not have a public setter
method, on the specified managed bean class.
? It is an error to specify a <value> element that cannot be converted to the type required by a managed property, or
that, when evaluated, results in a value that cannot be converted to the type required by a managed property. [P1-end]

? If the type of the property referenced by the <managed-property> element is a Java enum, the contents of the
<value> element must be a String that yields a valid return from
java.lang.Enum.valueOf(PROPERTY_CLASS, VALUE) where PROPERTY_CLASS is the
java.lang.Class for the property and VALUE is the contents of the <value> element in the application
configuration resource. If any exception is thrown from Enum.valueOf() it is an error.
? [P1-start managed bean scope errors] It is an error for a managed bean created through this facility to have a property
that points at an object stored in a scope with a (potentially) shorter life span. Specifically, this means, for an object
created with the specified <managed-bean-scope>, then <value> evaluations can only point at created objects
with the specified managed bean scope:
? none -- none
? application -- none, application
? session -- none, application, session
? view -- none, application, session, view
? request -- none, application, session, view, request [P1-end]
? If a bean points to a property whose value is a mixed expression containing literal strings and expressions, the net
scope of the mixed expression is considered to be the scope of the narrowest sub-expression, excluding expressions in
the none scope.
? [P1-start implicit objects in request scope] Data accessed via an implicit object is also defined to be in a scope. The
following implicit objects are considered to be in request scope:
? cookie
? facesContext
? header
? headerValues
? param
? paramValues
? request
? requestScope
? view [P1-end]
? [P1-start implicit objects in session scope] The only implicit objects in session scope are session and
sessionScope [P1-end]
? [P1-start implicit objects in application scope] The following implicit objects are considered to be in application
scope:
? application
? applicationScope
? initParam [P1-end]
? [P1-start cyclic references error] It is an error to configure cyclic references between managed beans. [P1-end]
? [P1-start managed bean names correctness] Managed bean names must conform to the syntax of a Java language
identifier. [P1-end]
The initialization of bean properties from <map-entries> and <list-entries> elements must adhere to the
following algorithm, though any confirming implementation may be used.
For <map-entries>:
1. Call the property getter, if it exists.
2. If the getter returns null or doesn't exist, create a java.util.HashMap, otherwise use the returned
java.util.Map.

3. Add all entries defined by nested <map-entry> elements in the order they are listed, converting key values defined
by nested <key> elements to the type defined by <key-class> and entry values defined by nested <value>
elements to the type defined by <value-class>. If a value is given as a value expression, evaluate the reference
and store the result, converting to <value-class> if necessary. If <key-class> and/or <value-class> are
not defined, use java.lang.String. Add null for each <null-value> element.
4. If a new java.util.Map was created in step 2), set the property by calling the setter method, or log an error if
there is no setter method.
For <list-entries>:
1. Call the property getter, if it exists.
2. If the getter returns null or doesn't exist, create a java.util.ArrayList, otherwise use the returned Object
(an array or a java.util.List).
3. If a List was returned or created in step 2), add all elements defined by nested <value> elements in the order they
are listed, converting values defined by nested <value> elements to the type defined by <value-class>. If a
value is given as a value expression, evaluate the reference and store the result, converting to <value-class> if
necessary. If a <value-class> is not defined, use the value as-is (i.e., as a java.lang.String). Add null for
each <null-value> element.
4. If an array was returned in step 2), create a java.util.ArrayList and copy all elements from the returned array
to the new List, wrapping elements of a primitive type. Add all elements defined by nested <value> elements as
described in step 3).
5. If a new java.util.List was created in step 2) and the property is of type List, set the property by calling the
setter method, or log an error if there is no setter method.
6. If a new java.util.List was created in step 2) and the property is a java array, convert the List into an array
of the property type, and set it by calling the setter method, or log an error if there is no setter method.
7. If a new java.util.List was created in step 4), convert the List to an array of the proper type for the property
and set the property by calling the setter method, or log an error if there is no setter method.
5.3.1 Managed Bean Configuration Example

The following <managed-bean> elements might appear in one or more application configuration resources (see
Section 11.4 “Application Configuration Resources”) to configure the behavior of the Managed Bean Creation facility.

Assume that your application includes CustomerBean with properties mailingAddress and shippingAddress
of type Address (along with additional properties that are not shown), and AddressBean implementation classes with
String properties of type street, city, state, country, and postalCode.
<managed-bean>
<description>
A customer bean will be created as needed, and stored in
request scope. Its “mailingAddress” and “streetAddress”
properties will be initialized by virtue of the fact that the
“value” expressions will not encounter any object under
key “addressBean” in any scope.
</description>
<managed-bean-name>customer</managed-bean-name>
<managed-bean-class>
com.mycompany.mybeans.CustomerBean
</managed-bean-class>
<managed-bean-scope> request </managed-bean-scope>
<managed-property>
<property-name>mailingAddress</property-name>
<value>#{addressBean}</value>
</managed-property>
<managed-property>
<property-name>shippingAddress</property-name>
<value>#{addressBean}</value>
</managed-property>
<managed-property>
<property-name>customerType</property-name>
<value>New</value> 
</managed-property>
</managed-bean>
<managed-bean>
<description>
A new AddressBean will not be added to any scope, because we
only want to create instances when a CustomerBean creation asks
for them. Therefore, we set the scope to “none”.
</description>
<managed-bean-name>addressBean</managed-bean-name>
<managed-bean-class>
com.mycompany.mybeans.AddressBean
</managed-bean-class>
<managed-bean-scope> none </managed-bean-scope>
</managed-bean>
If a value expression “#{customer.mailingAddress.city}” were to be evaluated by the JSF implementation,

and there was no object stored under key “customer” in request, view, session, or application scope, a new
CustomerBean instance will be created and stored in request scope, with its mailingAddress and
shippingAddress properties being initialized to instances of AddressBean as defined by the configuration
elements shown above. Then, the evaluation of the remainder of the expression can proceed as usual.

Although not used by the JSF implementation at application runtime, it is also convenient to be able to indicate to JSF
tools (at design time) that objects of particular types will be created and made available (at runtime) by some other
means. For example, an application configuration resource could include the following information to declare that a
JDBC data source instance will have been created, and stored in application scope, as part of the application’s own
startup processing.
<referenced-bean>
<description>
A JDBC data source will be initialized and made available in
some scope (presumably application) for use by the JSF based
application when it is actually run. This information is not
used by the JSF implementation itself; only by tools.
</description>
<referenced-bean-name> dataSource </referenced-bean-name>
<referenced-bean-class>
javax.sql.DataSource
</referenced-bean-class>
</referenced-bean>
This information can be utilized by the tool to construct user interfaces based on the properties of the referenced beans.
5.4 Managed Bean Annotations

JSF 2.0 introduced several annotations, in the package javax.faces.bean, that act as analogs to the managed bean
configuration syntax in the application configuration resources described earlier in this chapter. JSF 2.0 is a component
specification of Java EE 6, which also includes a much more powerful and complete set of annotations, from several
other component specifications, most notably Contexts and Dependency Injection (CDI). These annotations are also
usable with JSF. The annotations in the package javax.faces.bean will be deprecated in a version of the JSF
specification after 2.2. Therefore, developers are strongly recommended avoid using those annotations and instead use
the ones from Java EE 6.
5.4.1 JSF Managed Classes and Java EE Annotations

JSF Implementations that are running as a part of Java EE 5 (or later) must allow managed bean implementations to use
the annotations specified in section 14.5 of the Servlet 2.5 Specification to allow the container to inject references to
container managed resources into a managed bean instance before it is made accessible to the JSF application. Only
beans declared to be in request, session, or application scope are eligible for resource injection.
In addition to managed beans being injectable in this manner, the following JSF artifacts are also injectable.
TABLE 5-3 JSF Artifacts Eligible for Injection
Artifact Type
javax.el.ELResolver
javax.faces.application.ApplicationFactory
javax.faces.application.NavigationHandler
javax.faces.application.ResourceHandler
javax.faces.application.StateManager
javax.faces.component.visit.VisitContextFactory

TABLE 5-3 JSF Artifacts Eligible for Injection
Artifact Type
javax.faces.context.ExceptionHandlerFactory
javax.faces.context.ExternalContextFactory
javax.faces.context.FacesContextFactory
javax.faces.context.PartialViewContextFactory
javax.faces.event.ActionListener
javax.faces.event.SystemEventListener
javax.faces.lifecycle.ClientWindowFactory
javax.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleFactory
javax.faces.event.PhaseListener
javax.faces.render.RenderKitFactory
javax.faces.view.ViewDeclarationLanguageFactory
javax.faces.view.facelets.FaceletCacheFactory
javax.faces.view.facelets.
TagHandlerDelegateFactory
Please consult the Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition Specification 6.0 for complete details of this feature. Here is a
summary of the Java EE annotations one may use in a managed bean or other artifact from the preceding table. [P1-start
valid annotations in a managed bean]
@javax.inject.Inject
@javax.inject.Named
@javax.inject.Qualifier
@javax.inject.Scope
@javax.inject.Singleton
@javax.enterprise.context.ApplicationScoped
@javax.enterprise.context.ConversationScoped
@javax.enterprise.context.Dependent
@javax.enterprise.context.RequestScoped
@javax.enterprise.context.SessionScoped
@javax.annotation.Resource
@javax.annotation.Resources
@javax.ejb.EJB
@javax.ejb.EJBs
@javax.xml.ws.WebServiceRef
@javax.xml.ws.WebServiceRefs
@javax.persistence.PersistenceContext
@javax.persistence.PersistenceContexts

@javax.persistence.PersistenceUnit
@javax.persistence.PersistenceUnits [P1-end]
Following is an example of valid usages of this feature in a managed bean or other artifact in the preceding table.
public class User extends Object {
private @EJB ShoppingCart cart;
private @Resource Inventory inventory;
private DataSource customerData;
@Resource(name=”customerData”)
private void setCustomerData(DataSource data) {
customerData = data;
}
public String getOrderSummary() {

// Do something with the injected resources
// And generate a textual summary of the order
}
This example illustrates that the above annotations can be attached to instance variables or to JavaBeans setters. The JSF
implementation running in a Java EE 5 container must guarantee that the injections are performed before the bean is
handed back to the user. Generally, this is done by performing the injection immediately after the lazy instantiation of the
managed bean.
5.4.2 Managed Bean Lifecycle Annotations

JSF implementations running in a Java EE 5 compliant container must support attaching the @PostConstruct and
@PreDestroy annotations to aid in awareness of the managed-bean lifecycle.
Methods on managed beans declared to be in none, request, view, session, or application scope, annotated
with @PostConstruct, must be called by the JSF implementation after resource injection is performed (if any) but
before the bean is placed into scope.
[P1-start rules governing invocation of @PostConstruct annotated methods]If the method throws an unchecked
exception, the JSF implementation must not put the managed-bean into service, a message must be logged, and further
methods on that managed bean instance must not be called. [P1-end]
Methods on managed beans declared to be in request, session, or application scope, annotated with
@PreDestroy, must be called by the JSF implementation before the bean is removed from its scope or before the scope
itself is destroyed, whichever comes first. In the case of a managed bean placed in view scope, methods annotated with
@PreDestroy must only be called when the view scope is destroyed. See the javadoc for
FacesContext.setViewRoot(). This annotation must be supported in all cases where the above
@PostConstruct annotation is supported.
[P1-start rules governing invocation of @PreDestroy annotated methods] If the method throws an unchecked exception,
the JSF implementation may log it, but the exception must not otherwise alter the execution.
Refer to the Java EE specification section 2.5 and the Common Annotations for the JavaTM PlatformTM specification
section 2.5 for more details.[P1-end]

5.5 How Faces Leverages the Unified EL
This section is non-normative and covers the major players in the Unified EL and how they relate to JavaServer Faces.
The number one goal in this version of the JavaServer Faces specification is to export the concepts behind the JSF EL
into the Unified EL, which is part of the the JavaServer Pages version 2.1 specification, and then rely on those facilities
to get the work done. Readers interested in how to implement the Unified EL itself must consult the Unified EL Spec
document.
5.5.1 ELContext
The ELContext is a handy little “holder” object that gets passed all around the Unified EL API. It has two purposes.
? To allow technologies that use the Unified EL, such as JavaServer Faces, the JSF View Declaration Language (JSF
VDL), and JSP, to store any context information specific to that technology so it can be leveraged during expression
evaluation. For example the expression “${view.viewId}” is specific to Faces. It means, “find the UIViewRoot
instance for the current view, and return its viewId”. The Unified EL doesn’t know about the “view” implicit object
or what a UIViewRoot is, but JavaServer Faces does. The Unified EL has plugin points that will get called to resolve
“view”, but to do so, JavaServer Faces needs access to the FacesContext from within the callstack of EL
evaluation. Therefore, the ELContext comes to the rescue, having been populated with the FacesContext earlier
in the request processing lifecycle.
? To allow the pluggable resolver to tell the Unified EL that it did, in fact, resolve a property and that further resolvers
must not be consulted. This is done by setting the “propertyResolved” property to true.
The complete specification for ELResolver may be found in Chapter 2 of the Expression Language Specification, Version
2.1.
5.5.1.1 Lifetime, Ownership and Cardinality

An ELContext instance is created the first time getELContext() is called on the FacesContext for this request.
Please see Section 6.1.3 “ELContext” for details. Its lifetime ends the same time the FacesContext’s lifetime ends.
The FacesContext maintains the owning reference to the ELContext. There is at most one ELContext per
FacesContext.

5.5.1.2 Properties
ELResolver RO javax.el.EL Return the ELResolver instance described

Resolver in Section 5.6.1 “Faces ELResolver for
JSP Pages”
propertyResolved RW boolean Set by an ELResolver implementation if it
successfully resolved a property. See
Section 5.5.2 “ELResolver” for how this
property is used.
5.5.1.3 Methods
Here is a subset of the methods that are relevant to Faces.
public Object getContext(Class key);

void putContext(Class key, Object contextInstance);
...
As mentioned in Section 6.1.3 “ELContext”, the putContext() method is called, passing the current
FacesContext instance the first time the system asks the FacesContext for its ELContext. The getContext()
method will be called by any ELResolver instances that need to access the FacesContext to perform their
resolution.
5.5.1.4 Events
The creation of an ELContext instance precipitates the emission of an ELContextEvent from the FacesContext
that created it. Please see Section 6.1.3 “ELContext” for details.
5.5.2 ELResolver
Faces 1.1 used the VariableResolver and PropertyResolver classes as the workhorses of expression
evaluation. The Unified API has the ELResolver instead. The ELResolver concept is the heart of the Unified EL.
When an expression is evaluated, the ELResolver is responsible for resolving each segment in the expression. For
example, in rendering the component behind the tag “<h:outputText value=”#{user.address.street}”
/>” the ELResolver is called three times. Once to resolve “user”, again to resolve the “address” property of user, and
finally, to resolve the “street” property of “address”. The complete specification for ELResolver may be found in Chapter
2 of the Expression Language Specification, Version 2.1.
[N/T-start two ELResolver impls] As described in more detail in Section 5.6.1 “Faces ELResolver for JSP Pages”, Faces
must provide two implementations of ELResolver. [P1-end]Which of these two implementations is actually used to
resolve an expression depends on where the expresison is evaluated. If the expression is evaluated in a markup page, the
ELResolver for markup pages is used. If the expression is evaluated in java VM hosted code from Faces, another
ELResolver is used that is tailored for use inside of Faces java VM hosted code. During the course of evaluation of an
expression, a variety of sources must be considered to help resolve each segment of the expression. These sources are
linked in a chain-like fashion. Each link in the chain has the opportunity to resolve the current segment. If it does so, it
must set the “propertyResolved” property on the ELContext, to true. If not, it must not modify the value of the
“propertyResolved” property. If the “propertyResolved” property is not set to true the return value from the
ELResolver method is ignored by the system.

5.5.2.1 Lifetime, Ownership, and Cardinality
ELResolver instances have application lifetime and scope. The JSP container maintains one top level ELResolver (into
which a Faces specific ELResolver is added) accessible from
JspContext.getELContext().getELResolver(). This ELResolver instance is also used from the JSF VDL,
even though JSF VDL pages do not themselves use JSP. Faces maintains one ELResolver (separate from the one
handed to the JSP container) accessible from FacesContext.getELContext().getELResolver() and
Application.getELResolver().
5.5.2.2 Properties
ELResolver has no proper JavaBeans properties
5.5.2.3 Methods
Here is a subset of the methods that are relevant to Faces.
public Object getValue(ELContext context, Object base, Object

property);
void setValue(ELContext context, Object base, Object property,
Object value);
...
getValue() looks at the argument base and tries to return the value of the property named by the argument
property. For example, if base is a JavaBean, property would be the name of the JavaBeans property, and the
resolver would end up calling the getter for that property.
setValue() looks at the argument base and tries to set the argument value into the property named by the argument
property. For example, if base is a JavaBean, property would be the name of the JavaBeans property, and the
resolver would end up calling the setter for that property.
There are other methods, such as isReadOnly() that are beyond the scope of this document, but described completely
in the Unified EL Specification.
5.5.2.4 Events
ELResolver precipitates no events.
5.5.3 ExpressionFactory
Faces 1.1 used the Application class as a factory for ValueBinding and MethodBinding instances. The Unified EL
has the ExpressionFactory class instead. It is a factory for ValueExpression and MethodExpression
instances.
5.5.3.1 Lifetime, Ownership, and Cardinality

ExpressionFactory instances are application scoped. The Application object maintains the
ExpressionFactory instance used by Faces (See Section 7.1.10 “Acquiring ExpressionFactory Instance”). The
JspApplicationContext object maintains the ExpressionFactory used by the JSP container (and therefore by
the JSF VDL). It is permissible for both of these access methods to yield the same java object instance.

5.5.3.2 Properties
ExpressionFactory has no properties.
5.5.3.3 Methods
public MethodExpression createMethodExpression(ELContext context,

String expression, FunctionMapper fnMapper, Class[] paramTypes);
public ValueExpression createValueExpression(ELContext context,
String expression, Class expectedType, FunctionMapper fnMapper);
These methods take the human readable expression string, such as ”#{user.address.street}” and return an
object oriented representation of the expression. Which method one calls depends on what kind of expression you need.
The Faces Application class has convenience methods specific to Faces needs for these concepts, please see
Section 7.1.11 “Programmatically Evaluating Expressions”.
5.5.3.4 Events
ExpressionFactory precipitates no events.
5.6 ELResolver Instances Provided by Faces

This section provides details on what an implementation of the JavaServer Faces specification must do to support the
Unified EL for usage in a Faces application.
Section 5.5.2 “ELResolver” mentions that a Faces implementation must provide two implementations of ELResolver.
One ELResolver, let’s call it the Faces ELResolver For Markup Pages, is plugged in to the top level resolver chain
returned from JspContext.getELContext().getELResolver(). This top level resolver chain is used by the
view declaration language container (JSP or JSF View Declaration Language), and possibly by tag handlers, to resolve
expressions. The other ELResolver, let’s call it the ELResolver for Facelets and Programmatic Access, is used by
Facelets markup pages, and is returned from FacesContext.getELContext().getELResolver() and
Application.getELResolver(), and is used to resolve expressions that appear programmatically. See the
javadocs for javax.el.ELResolver for the specification and method semantics for each method in ELResolver.
The remainder of this section lists the implementation requirements for these two resolvers.
5.6.1 Faces ELResolver for JSP Pages

As mentioned in Section 5.5.2 “ELResolver”, during the course of evaluation of an expression, a variety of sources must
be considered to help resolve each segment of the expression. These sources are linked in a chain-like fashion. Each link
in the chain has the opportunity to resolve the current segment. The Unified EL provides a container class to support this
multi-source variable resolution: javax.el.CompositeELResolver. The implementation for the Faces ELResolver
for JSP Pages is described as a set of ELResolvers inside of a CompositeELResolver instance, but any
implementation strategy is permissible as long as the semantics are preserved.
This diagram shows the set of ELResolver instances that must be added to the Faces ELResolver for JSP Pages. This
instance must be handed to the JSP container via a call to
JspFactory.getDefaultFactory().getJspApplicationContext().addELResolver() at application
startup time. Even though we are making a JSP API call to install this ELResolver, we do not require using JSP to
develop JSF applications. It also shows the order in which they must be added. [P2-start there are 18 methods in the

below tables, each can corresponding to a method on a particular ELResolver. With clever testing, it is possible to write
assertions for these. Testing the legacy VariableResolver and PropertyResolvers is not included in this 18 methods
number. These classes may be tested simply by noting that the methods do indeed get called on a user-provided
VariableResolver or PropertyResolver.] [P1-end]
TABLE 5-4 Faces ELResolver for JSP Pages
The semantics of each ELResolver are given below, either in tables that describe what must be done to implement each
particular method on ELResolver, or in prose when such a table is inappropriate.
5.6.1.1 Faces Implicit Object ELResolver For JSP

This resolver relies on the presence of another, JSP specific, implicit object ELResolver in the chain by only resolving
the “facesContext” and “view” implicit objects.

TABLE 5-5 Faces ImplicitObjectELResolver for JSP
ELResolver method implementation requirements
getValue If base is non-null, return null.

If base is null and property is null, throw
PropertyNotFoundException.
If base is null and property is a String equal to
“facesContext”, call setPropertyResolved(true) on
the argument ELContext and return the FacesContext
for this request.
“view”, call setPropertyResolved(true) on the
argument ELContext and return the UIViewRoot for
this request by calling
facesContext.getUIViewRoot().
This ELResolver must also support the implicit
object “resource” as specified in Section 5.6.2.1
“Implicit Object ELResolver for Facelets and
getType If base is non-null, return null.
“facesContext” or “view”, call
setPropertyResolved(true) and return null;
Otherwise, just return null;This ELResolver must
also support the implicit object “resuorce” as
specified in Section 5.6.2.1 “Implicit Object
ELResolver for Facelets and Programmatic Access”
setValue If base is null and property is null, throw
“facesContext” or “view”, throw
javax.el.PropertyNotWriteable, since “view” and
“facesContext” are read-only.This ELResolver must
also support the implicit object “resuorce” as
specified in Section 5.6.2.1 “Implicit Object
ELResolver for Facelets and Programmatic Access”

isReadOnly If base is non-null, return false.

“facesContext” or “view”, call
setPropertyResolved(true) on the argument ELContext
and return true.
Otherwise return false;This ELResolver must also
support the implicit object “resuorce” as specified
in Section 5.6.2.1 “Implicit Object ELResolver for
Facelets and Programmatic Access”
getFeatureDesc If base is non-null, return null.
riptors If base is null, return an Iterator containing
three java.beans.FeatureDescriptor instances, one
for the “view” property, one for the “facesContext”
property and one for the “resource” property. It is
required that all of the FeatureDescriptor
instances in the Iterator set Boolean.TRUE as the
value of the ELResolver.RESOLVABLE_AT_DESIGN_TIME
attribute. The name and displayName of the
FeatureDescriptor must be “view”, “facesContext”, “
or “resource” as appropriate. FacesContext.class,
UIViewRoot.class, or ResourceHandler.class must be
stored as the value of the ELResolver.TYPE
attribute, as approriate. The shortDescription must
be a suitable description depending on the
implementation. The expert and hidden properties
must be false. The preferred property must be true.
getCommonPrope If base is non-null, return null.
rtyType If base is null and return String.class.
5.6.1.2 ManagedBean ELResolver

This is the means by which the managed bean creation facility described in Section 5.3 “The Managed Bean Facility” is
called into play during EL resolution.

TABLE 5-6 ManagedBeanELResolver
ELResorver method implementation requirements

If property matches the name of an entry in the
request, session, or application scopes, in that
order, return null.
If base is null, and property matches one of the
managed-bean-name declarations in the application
configuration resources, instantiate the bean,
populate it with properties as described in
Section 5.3 “The Managed Bean Facility”, store it
in the scope specified by the managed-bean-scope
declaration for this this managed-bean, call
setPropertyResolved(true) on the argument
ELContext, and return the freshly instantiated
managed-bean.
Otherwise, return null.
getType If base is null and property is null, throw
Otherwise return null;
Otherwise, if base is null, and property matches
one of the managed-bean-name declarations in the
application configuration resources, and a managed
bean with that managed-bean-name does not yet exist
in the specified scope, instantiate the bean,
populate it with properties as described in
Section 5.3 “The Managed Bean Facility”, store it
in the scope specified by the managed-bean-scope
declaration for this this managed-bean and return.
If the managed bean does exist, take no action and
return. In either case (the bean exists or does not
exist), the actual setting will happen by virtue of
the BeanELResolver.
Otherwise take no action and return.

isReadOnly If base is non-null, return false.

If base is null return false. We never set the
propertyResloved property in this method because
the set responsibility is taken care of by the
ScopedAttributeELResolver.
java.beans.FeatureDescriptor instances for each
managed-bean in the application-configuration
resources. It is required that all of the
FeatureDescriptor instances in the Iterator set
Boolean.TRUE as the value of the
ELResolver.RESOLVABLE_AT_DESIGN_TIME attribute. The
name and displayName of the FeatureDescriptor must
be the managed-bean-name. The actual java Class
instance for the managed-bean-class must be stored
as the value of the ELResolver.TYPE attribute. The
shortDescription of the FeatureDescriptor must be
the description of the managaged-bean element, if
present, null otherwise. The expert and hidden
properties must be false. The preferred property
must be true.
rtyType If base is null, return Object.class.
5.6.1.3 Resource ELResolver

Please see Section 5.6.2.5 “Resource ELResolver” for the specification of this ELResolver.
5.6.1.4 ResourceBundle ELResolver for JSP Pages

This is the means by which resource bundles defined in the application configuration resources are called into play
during EL resolution.

TABLE 5-7 ResourceBundleELResolver

the value of the <var> element of one of the
<resource-bundle>'s in the application
configuration resources, use the Locale of the
current UIViewRoot and the base-name of the
resource-bundle to load the ResourceBundle. Call
setPropertyResolved(true). Return the
ResourceBundle. Otherwise, return null.

the value of the <var> element of one of the
<resource-bundle>'s in the application
configuration resources, call
setPropertyResolved(true) and return
ResourceBundle.class.

PropertyNotFoundException. If base is null and
property is a String equal to the value of the
<var> element of one of the <resource-bundle>'s in
the application configuration resources throw
javax.el.PropertyNotWriteable, since
ResourceBundles are read-only.

isReadOnly If base is non-null, return null. If base is false

and property is null, throw
PropertyNotFoundException. If base is null and
property is a String equal to the value of the
<var> element of one of the <resource-bundle>'s in
the application configuration resources, call
and return true. Otherwise return false;

java.beans.FeatureDescriptor instances, one for
each <resource-bundle> in the <application>
element. It is required that all of these
FeatureDescriptor instances set Boolean.TRUE as the
value of the ELResolver.RESOLVABLE_AT_DESIGN_TIME
attribute. The name of the FeatureDescriptor must
be the var element of the <resource-bundle>. The
displayName of the FeatureDescriptor must be the
display-name of the <resource-bundle>.
ResourceBundle.class must be stored as the value of
the ELResolver.TYPE attribute. The shortDescription
must be a suitable description depending on the
implementation. The expert and hidden properties
must be false. The preferred property must be true.

rtyType If base is null, return string.Class.
5.6.1.5 ELResolvers in the application configuration resources

The <el-resolver> element in the application configuration resources will contain the fully qualified classname to a
class with a public no-arg constructor that implements javax.el.ELResolver. These are added to the Faces
ELResolver for JSP Pages and the Faces ELResolver for Facelets and Programmatic Access in the order in which they
occur in the application configuration resources.
5.6.1.6 VariableResolver Chain Wrapper

This is the means by which VariableResolver instances that have been specified in <variable-resolver>
elements inside the application configuration resources are allowed to affect the EL resolution process. If there are one
or more <variable-resolver> elements in the application configuration resources, an instance of ELResolver with
the following semantics must be created and added to the Faces ELResolver for JSP Pages as indicated in the
Section TABLE 5-4 “Faces ELResolver for JSP Pages”.
By virtue of the decorator pattern described in Section 11.4.7 “Delegating Implementation Support”, the default
VariableResolver will be at the end of the VariableResolver chain (See Section 5.8.1 “VariableResolver and
the Default VariableResolver”), if each custom VariableResolver chose to honor the full decorator pattern. If the
custom VariableResolver chose not to honor the decorator pattern, the user is stating that they want to take over
complete control of the variable resolution system. Note that the head of the VariableResolver chain is no longer
accessible by calling Application.getVariableResolver() (Please see Chapter 7 “VariableResolver Property
for what it returns). The head of the VariableResolver chain is kept in an implementation specific manner.

The semantics of the ELResolver that functions as the VariableResolver chain wrapper are described in the following
table.
TABLE 5-8 ELResolver that is the VariableResolver Chain Wrapper

Otherwise, call setPropertyResolved(true) on the
argument ELContext.
Get the ELContext from the FacesContext.
Get the head of the VariableResolver chain and call
resolveVariable(facesContext, property) and return
the result.
Catch any exceptions that may be thrown by
resolveVariable(), call setPropertyResolved(false)
on the argument ELContext, and rethrow the
exception wrapped in an javax.el.ELException.
getType If base is null and property is null, throw
return null;
setValue If base is null and property is null throw
isReadOnly If base is null and property is null throw
return false;
getFeatureDesc return null;
riptors
getCommonPrope If base is null, we return String.class. If base is
rtyType non-null, return null;
5.6.1.7 PropertyResolver Chain Wrapper

This is the means by which propertyResolver instances that have been specified in <property-resolver>
elements inside the application configuration resources are allowed to affect the EL resolution process. If there are one
or more <property-resolver> elements in the application configuration resources, an instance of ELResolver
with the following semantics must be created and added to the Faces ELResolver for JSP Pages as indicated in the
Section TABLE 5-4 “Faces ELResolver for JSP Pages”.
By virtue of the decorator pattern described in Section 11.4.7 “Delegating Implementation Support”, the default
propertyResolver will be at the end of the propertyResolver chain (See, Section 5.8.2 “PropertyResolver and
the Default PropertyResolver”), if each custom propertyResolver chose to honor the full decorator pattern. If the
custom propertyResolver chose not to honor the decorator pattern, then the user is stating that they want to take
over complete control of the propertyResolution system. Note that the head of the propertyResolver chain is
no longer accessible by calling Application.getPropertyResolver() (Please see Chapter 7 “PropertyResolver
Property for what it returns). The head of the property resolver chain is kept in an implementation specific manner.
The semantics of the ELResolver that functions as the property resolver chain wrapper are described in the following
table.

TABLE 5-9 ELResolver that is the PropertyResolver Chain Wrapper
getValue, If base or property are null, return null (or false

getType, if the method returns boolean).
isReadOnly, Call setPropertyResolved(true) on the argument
setValue ELContext.
Get the ELContext from the FacesContext.
Get the head of the propertyResolver chain.
If base is a List or java language array, coerce
the property to an int and call the corresponding
method on the head of the property resolver chain
that takes an int for property, returning the
result (except in the case of setValue()).
Otherwise, call the corresponding method on the
head of the property resolver chain that takes an
Object for property, returning the result (except
in the case of setValue()).
If an Exception is thrown by calling the above
methods on the PropertyResolver chain, catch it,
call setPropertyResolved(false) on the argument
ELContext, and rethrow the Exception wrapped
(snuggly) in a javax.el.ELException.
getFeatureDesc return null;
riptors
getCommonProper If base is null, return null. If base is non-null,
tyType return Object.class.
5.6.1.8 ELResolvers from Application.addELResolver()

Any such resolvers are considered at this point in the Faces ELResolver for JSP Pages in the order in which they were
added.
5.6.2 ELResolver for Facelets and Programmatic Access

This section documents the requirements for the second ELResolver mentioned in Section 5.6 “ELResolver Instances
Provided by Faces”, the one that is used for Facelets and for programmatic expression evaluation from Faces java code.
The implementation for the ELResolver for Programmatic Access is described as a set of ELResolvers inside of a
CompositeELResolver instance, but any implementation strategy is permissible as long as the semantics are
preserved. .
This diagram shows the set of ELResolver instances that must be added to the ELResolver for Programmatic Access.
This instance must be returned from Application.getELResolver() and
FacesContext.getELContext().getELResolver(). It also shows the order in which they must be added. [P1-
state there are 12 methods in the below tables that can be tested for assertion. The remainder of the section is covered by
the tests in 5.6.1][P1-end]
TABLE 5-10 ELResolver for Facelets and Programmatic Access

The semantics of each ELResolver are given below, either in tables that describe what must be done to implement
each particular method on ELResolver, in prose when such a table is inappropriate, or as a reference to another section
where the semantics are exactly the same.
5.6.2.1 Implicit Object ELResolver for Facelets and Programmatic Access

This resolver differs from the one in the Section 5.6.1.1 “Faces Implicit Object ELResolver For JSP” in that it must
resolve all of the implicit objects, not just facesContext and view

TABLE 5-11 ImplicitObjectELResolver for Programmatic Access


implicitObject, call setPropertyResolved(true) on
the argument ELContext and return result, where
implicitObject and result are as follows:
implicitObject -> result

application -> externalContext.getContext()
applicationScope ->
externalContext.getApplicationMap()
cookie -> externalContext.getRequestCookieMap()
facesContext -> the FacesContext for this request
component -> the top of the stack of UIComponent
instances, as pushed via calls to
UIComponent.pushComponentToEL(). See Section 3.1.14
“Lifecycle Management Methods”
flowScope ->
facesContext.getApplication().getFlowHandler().
getCurrentFlowScope().
cc -> the current composite component relative to
the declaring page in which the expression appears.
flash -> externalContext.getFlash()
header -> externalContext.getRequestHeaderMap()
headerValues ->
externalContext.getRequestHeaderValuesMap()
initParam -> externalContext.getInitParameterMap()
param -> externalContext.getRequestParameterMap()
paramValues ->
externalContext.getRequestParameterValuesMap()
request -> externalContext.getRequest()
requestScope -> externalContext.getRequestMap()
resource ->
facesContext.getApplication().getResourceHandler()
session -> externalContext.getSession()
sessionScope -> externalContext.getSessionMap()
view -> facesContext.getViewRoot()
viewScope ->
facesContext.getViewRoot().getViewMap()
resource ->
facesContext.getApplication().getResourceHandler()
If base is null, and property doesn’t match one of

the above implicitObjects, return null.


“application”, “component”, “cc”, “cookie”,
“facesContext”, “header”, “headerValues”,
“initParam”, “param”, “paramValues”, “request”,
“resource”, “session”, or “view”, call
and return null to indicate that no types are
accepted to setValue() for these attributes.
“requestScope”, “sessionScope”, or
“applicationScope”, call setPropertyResolved(true)
on the argument ELContext and return null.
Otherwise, null;
setValue If base is non-null, return null.
“applicationScope”, “requestScope”, “sessionScope”,
“application”, “component”, “cc”, “cookie”,
“facesContext”, “header”, “headerValues”,
“resource”, “session”, or “view”, throw
javax.el.PropertyNotWriteableException, since these
implicit objects are read-only.
Otherwise return null.
isReadOnly If base is non-null, return (or false if the method
returns boolean).
“applicationScope”, “component”, “cc”,
“requestScope”, “sessionScope”, “application”,
“cookie”, “facesContext”, “header”, “headerValues”,
“resource”, “session”, or “view”, call
and return true.


riptors If base is null, return an Iterator containing 17
java.beans.FeatureDescriptor instances, one for
eath of the following properties: application,
component, cc, cookie, facesContext, header,
headerValues, initParam, param, paramValues,
request, resource, session, view, applicationScope,
sessionScope, and requestScope. It is required that
all of these FeatureDescriptor instances set
Boolean.TRUE as the value of the
ELResolver.RESOLVABLE_AT_DESIGN_TIME attribute. For
the name and short of FeatureDescriptor, return the
implicit object name. The appropriate Class must be
stored as the value of the ELResolver.TYPE
attribute as follows:
implicitObject -> ELResolver.TYPE value

application -> Object.class
applicationScope -> Map.class
component -> UIComponent.class
cc -> UIComponent.class
cookie -> Map.class
facesContext -> FacesContext.class
header -> Map.class
headerValues -> Map.class
initParam -> Map.class
param -> Map.class
paramValues -> Map.class
request -> Object.class
resource -> Object.class
requestScope -> Map.class
session -> Object.class
sessionScope -> Map.class
view -> UIViewRoot.class
The shortDescription must be a suitable description

depending on the implementation. The expert and
hidden properties must be false. The preferred
property must be true.
rtyType If base is null and return String.class
5.6.2.2 Composite Component Attributes ELResolver

This ELResolver makes it so expressions that refer to the attributes of a composite component get correctly evaluated.
For example, the expression #{cc.attrs.usernameLabel} says, “find the current composite component, call its
getAttributes() method, within the returned Map look up the value under the key “usernameLable”. If the value is
a ValueExpression, call getValue() on it and the result is returned as the evaluation of the expression.
Otherwise, if the value is not a ValueExpression the value itself is returned as the evaluation of the expression.”

TABLE 5-12 Composite Component Attributes ELResolver
getValue If base is non-null, is an instance of UIComponent,

is a composite component, and property is non-null
and is equal to the string “attrs”, return a Map
implementation with the following characteristics.
Wrap the attributes map of the composite component
and delegate all calls to the composite component
attributes map with the following exceptions:
get(), put(), and containsKey() are required to be
supported.
get(): if the result of calling get() on the
component attributes map is null, and a default
value was declared in the composite component
metadata, the value will be a ValueExpression.
Evaluate it and return it. Otherwise, simply return
the value from the component attributes map.
put(): Call getValueExpression() on the component.
If this returns non-null, call setValue() on it,
passing the value argument as the last argument.
Otherwise, simply call through to put on the
component attributes map.
containsKey(): If the attributes map contains the
key, return true. Otherwise, if a default value has
been declared for the attribute, return true.
Otherwise, return false.
The Map implementation must also implement the
interface
javax.faces.el.CompositeComponentExpressionHolder.
Otherwise, take no action.
getType If the base argument to getType() is not an
instance of the composite component attributes map
or the property argument to getType() is not an
instance of java.lang.String, return null.
Otherwise, check the top level component's
ValueExpression collection for an expression under
the name given by the property argument to
getType(). If the expression exists, call getType()
on the expression. If the property argument to
getType() is not empty, search the composite
component's metadata for a declared type on a
<composite:attribute> whose name matches the
property argument to getType(). If the expression
and the metadata both yield results, the metadata
takes precedence ONLY if it provides a narrower
result than does the expression, i.e. expression
type is assignable from metadata type. If the
metadata result does take precedence, call
ELContext.setPropertyResolved(true). Otherwise,
return whichever result was available, or null.
setValue Take no action.
isReadOnly Take no action and return true.
getFeatureDesc Take no action.
riptors
getCommonPrope Return String.class
rtyType

5.6.2.3 The CompositeELResolver
As indicated in Section TABLE 5-10 “ELResolver for Facelets and Programmatic Access”, following the
ImplicitObjectELResolver, the semantics obtained by adding a CompositeELResolver must be inserted here. This
ELResolver contains the following ELResolvers, described in the referenced sections.
1. Section 5.6.1.5 “ELResolvers in the application configuration resources”
2. Section 5.6.1.6 “VariableResolver Chain Wrapper”
3. Section 5.6.1.7 “PropertyResolver Chain Wrapper”
4. Section 5.6.1.8 “ELResolvers from Application.addELResolver()”
5.6.2.4 ManagedBean ELResolver

This resolver has the same semantics as the one in Section 5.6.1.2 “ManagedBean ELResolver”.
5.6.2.5 Resource ELResolver

This resolver is a means by which Resource instances are encoded into a faces request such that a subsequent faces
resource request from the browser can be satisfied using the ResourceHandler as described in Section 2.6 “Resource
Handling”.

TABLE 5-13 ResourceELResolver
getValue If base and property are not null, and base is an

instance of ResourceHandler (as will be the case
with an expression such as #{resource[‘ajax.js’]},
perform the following. (Note: This is possible due
to the ImplicitObjectELResolver returning the
ResourceHandler, see Section 5.6.2.1 “Implicit
Object ELResolver for Facelets and Programmatic
Access”)
? If property does not contain a colon
character ‘:’, treat property as the
resourceName and pass property to
ResourceHandler.createResource(
resourceName).
? If property contains a single colon
character ‘:’, treat the content before the ‘:’ as
the libraryName and the content after the ‘:’
as the resourceName and pass both to
resourceName, libraryName). If the
value of libraryName is the literal string
“this” (without the quotes), discover the
library name of the current resource (or the
contract name of the current resource, the two
are mutually exclusive) and replace “this”
with that library name (or contract name)
before calling
). In the case of resource library contracts,
libraryName will actually be the contract
name.
? If property contains more than one colon
character ‘:’, throw a localized
ELException, including property.
If one of the above steps results in the creation
of a non-null Resource instance, call
ELContext.setPropertyResolved(true). Call the
getRequestPath() method on the Resource instance,
pass the result through
ExternalContext.encodeResourceUrl() and return the
result.
getType Return null. This resolver only performs lookups.
setValue Take no action.
isReadOnly Return false in all cases.
getFeatureDesc Return null.
riptors
rtyType If base is null, return Object.class.

5.6.2.6 el.ResourceBundleELResolver
This entry in the chain must have the semantics the same as the class javax.el.ResourceBundleELResolver.
The default implementation just includes an instance of this resolver in the chain.
5.6.2.7 ResourceBundle ELResolver for Programmatic Access

This resolver has the same semantics as the one in Section 5.6.1.4 “ResourceBundle ELResolver for JSP Pages”.
5.6.2.8 Stream, StaticField, Map, List, Array, and Bean ELResolvers

These ELResolver instances are provided by the Unified EL API and must be added in the following order:
[P1-start_EL_3_0] If running on a container that supports EL 3.0: The return from

ExpressionFactory.getStreamELResolver, javax.el.StaticFieldELResolver. [P1-end_EL_3_0]
javax.el.MapELResolver, javax.el.ListELResolver, javax.el.ArrayELResolver,

javax.el.BeanELResolver. These actual ELResolver instances must be added. It is not compliant to simply add
other resolvers that preserve these semantics.
5.6.2.9 ScopedAttribute ELResolver

This ELResolver is responsible for doing the scoped lookup that makes it possible for expressions to pick up anything
stored in the request, session, or application scopes by name.

TABLE 5-14 Scoped Attribute ELResolver

Use the argument property as the key in a call to
externalContext.getRequestMap().get(). If this
returns non-null, call setPropertyResolved(true) on
the argument ELContext and return the value.
facesContext.getViewRoot().getViewMap().get()
(accounting for the potential for null returns
safely). If this returns non-null, call
and return the value.
externalContext.getSessionMap().get(). If this
externalContext.getApplicationMap().get(). If this
Otherwise call setPropertyResloved(true) and return
null;
Otherwise, setPropertyResolved(true) and return
Object.class to indicate that any type is
permissable to pass to a call to setValue().
setValue If base is non-null, return null.
Consult the Maps for the request, session, and
application, in order, looking for an entry under
the key property. If found, replace that entry with
argument value. If not found, call
externalContext.getRequestMap().put(property,
value).
Call setPropertyResolved(true) and return;

isReadOnly If base is false, setPropertyResolved(true) return

false;
Otherwise, return false;
riptors If base is null, return an Iterator of
java.beans.FeatureDescriptor instances for all
attributes in all scopes. The FeatureDescriptor
name and shortName is the name of the scoped
attribute. The actual runtime type of the attribute
must be stored as the value of the ELResolver.TYPE
attribute. Boolean.TRUE must be set as the value of
the ELResolver.RESOLVABLE_AT_DESIGN_TIME attribute.
The shortDescription must be a suitable description
depending on the implementation. The expert and
hidden properties must be false. The preferred
property must be true.
rtyType If base is null return String.class.
5.6.3 CDI for EL Resolution

If the any of the managed beans in the application have the @javax.faces.annotation.FacesConfig
annotation, the ImplicitObjectELResolver from Section 5.6.2.1 “Implicit Object ELResolver for Facelets and
Programmatic Access” is not present in the chain. Instead, CDI is used to perform EL resolution in the same manner is
in Section TABLE 5-11 “ImplicitObjectELResolver for Programmatic Access” with the following additional implicit
objects:
? externalContext
? the current ExternalContext from the current FacesContext
5.7 Current Expression Evaluation APIs
5.7.1 ELResolver
This class is the Unified EL’s answer to Faces’s VariableResolver and PropertyResolver. It turns out that
variable resolution can be seen as a special case of property resolution with the base object being null. Please see
Section 5.5.2 “ELResolver” for more details.
5.7.2 ValueExpression
This class is the Unified EL’s answer to Faces’s ValueBinding. It is the main object oriented abstraction for al EL
expression that results in a value either being retrieved or set. Please see Chapter 2 of the Expression Language
Specification, Version 2.1.

5.7.3 MethodExpression
This class is the Unified EL’s answer to Faces’s MethodBinding. It is the main object oriented abstraction for al EL
expression that results in a method being invoked. Please see Chapter 2 of the Expression Language Specification,
Version 2.1.
5.7.4 Expression Evaluation Exceptions

Four exception classes are defined to report errors related to the evaluation of value exceptions:
? javax.el.ELException (which extends java.lang.Exception)—used to report a problem evaluating a
value exception dynamically.
? MethodNotFoundException (which extends javax.el.ELException)—used to report that a requested
public method does not exist in the context of evaluation of a method expression.
? javax.el.PropertyNotFoundException (which extends javax.el.ELException)—used to report that a
requested property does not exist in the context of evaluation of a value expression.
? javax.el.PropertyNotWriteableException (which extends javax.el.ELException)—used to
indicate that the requested property could not be written to when evaluating the expression.
5.8 Deprecated Expression Evaluation APIs

Applications written for version 1.0 and 1.1 of the Faces specification must continue to run in this version of the
specification. This means deprecated APIs. This section describes the migration story for these APIs that
implementations must follow to allow 1.0 and 1.1 based applications to run.
5.8.1 VariableResolver and the Default VariableResolver

User-provided VariableResolver instances will still continue to work by virtue of Section 5.6.1.6 “VariableResolver
Chain Wrapper”. The decorator pattern described in Section 11.4.7 “Delegating Implementation Support” must be
supported. Users wishing to affect EL resolution are advised to author a custom ELResolver instead. These will get
picked up as specified in Section 5.6.1.5 “ELResolvers in the application configuration resources”.
The JSF implementation must provide a default VariableResolver implementation that gets the ELContext from
the argument FacesContext and calls setPropertyResolved(false) on it
The VariableResolver chain is no longer accessible from Application.getVariableResolver(). The

chain must be kept in an implementation dependent manner, but accessible to the ELResolver described in
Section 5.6.1.6 “VariableResolver Chain Wrapper”.
5.8.2 PropertyResolver and the Default PropertyResolver

User-provided propertyResolver instances will still continue to work by virtue of Section 5.6.1.6 “VariableResolver
Chain Wrapper”. The decorator pattern described in Section 11.4.7 “Delegating Implementation Support” must be
supported. Users wishing to affect EL resolution are advised to author a custom ELResolver instead. These will get
picked up as specified in Section 5.6.1.5 “ELResolvers in the application configuration resources”.
The JSF implementation must provide a default propertyResolver implementation that gets the ELContext from
the argument FacesContext and calls setPropertyResolved(false) on it.

The PropertyResolver chain is no longer accessible from Application.getpropertyResolver(). The
chain must be kept in an implementation dependent manner, but accessible to to the ELResolver described in
Section 5.6.1.7 “PropertyResolver Chain Wrapper”.
5.8.3 ValueBinding
The ValueBinding class encapsulates the actual evaluation of a value binding. Instances of ValueBinding for
specific references are acquired from the Application instance by calling the createValueBinding method (see
Section 7.10.3 “Acquiring ValueBinding Instances”).
public Object getValue(FacesContext context) throws

EvaluationException, PropertyNotFoundException;
Evaluate the value binding used to create this ValueBinding instance, relative to the specified FacesContext, and
return the referenced value.
public void setValue(FacesContext context, Object value) throws

update the referenced value to the specified new value.
public boolean isReadOnly(FacesContext context) throws

return true if the corresponding property is known to be immutable. Otherwise, return false.
public Class getType(FacesContext context) throws

return the Class that represents the data type of the referenced value, if it can be determined. Otherwise, return null.
5.8.4 MethodBinding
The MethodBinding class encapsulates the actual evaluation of a method binding. Instances of MethodBinding for
specific references are acquired from the Application instance by calling the createMethodBinding() method.
Note that instances of MethodBinding are immutable, and contain no references to a FacesContext (which is
passed in as a parameter when the reference binding is evaluated).
public Object invoke(FacesContext context, Object params[]) throws

EvaluationException, MethodNotFoundException;

Evaluate the method binding (see Section 5.2.1 “MethodExpression Syntax and Semantics”) and call the identified
method, passing the specified parameters. Return any value returned by the invoked method, or return null if the
invoked method is of type void.
public Class getType(FacesContext context) throws

MethodNotFoundException;
Evaluate the method binding (see Section 5.2.1 “MethodExpression Syntax and Semantics”) and return the Class
representing the return type of the identified method. If this method is of type void, return null instead.
5.8.5 Expression Evaluation Exceptions

Four exception classes are defined to report errors related to the evaluation of value exceptions [Note that these
exceptions are deprecated]:
? EvaluationException (which extends FacesException)—used to report a problem evaluating a value
exception dynamically.
? MethodNotFoundException (which extends EvaluationException)—used to report that a requested public
method does not exist in the context of evaluation of a method expression.
? PropertyNotFoundException (which extends EvaluationException)—used to report that a requested
property does not exist in the context of evaluation of a value expression.
? ReferenceSyntaxException (which extends EvaluationException)—used to report a syntax error in a
value exception.
5.9 CDI Integration

As of version 2.3 of this specification, JSF must run in a container that supports CDI version 2.0. This requirement
allows CDI to provide all the functionality of the managed bean facility from Section 5.3 “The Managed Bean Facility”
and Section 5.4 “Managed Bean Annotations” but in a better integrated way with the rest of the Java EE platform.
Delegating these features to CDI allows them to evolve independently of JSF. The remainder of this section specifies
some details of CDI integration pertinent to JSF.
5.9.1 JSF Objects Valid for @Inject Injection

It must be possible to inject the following JSF objects into other objects using @Inject.
Maps Returned by Various JSF Accessors

The annotations in package javax.faces.annotation are used to cause @Inject injection of the corresponding
Map into a field. Generics may be used.
JSF Objects
It must be possible to @Inject the following JSF and Java EE objects into CDI beans.
? javax.faces.application.ResourceHandler
? javax.faces.context.ExternalContext

? javax.faces.context.FacesContext
? javax.faces.context.Flash
? javax.servlet.http.HttpSession
Support for Injection into JSF Managed Objects

It must be possible to use @Inject when specifying the following kinds of JSF managed objects.
? Validators declared with @javax.faces.validator.FacesValidator(managed=”true”)
? Converters declared with @javax.faces.convert.FacesConverter(managed=”true”)
? FacesBehaviors declared with @javax.faces.component.behavior.FacesBehavior(managed=
”true”)
5.9.2 EL Resolution
The following implicit objects must be resolved using CDI
? application
? cc
? component
? facesContext
? flash
? flowScope
? header
? headerValues
? initParam
? param
? paramValues
? session
? view
? viewScope

6
Per-Request State Information
During request processing for a JSF page, a context object is used to represent request-specific information, as well as
provide access to services for the application. This chapter describes the classes which encapsulate this contextual
information.
6.1 FacesContext
JSF defines the javax.faces.context.FacesContext abstract base class for representing all of the contextual
information associated with processing an incoming request, and creating the corresponding response. A
FacesContext instance is created by the JSF implementation, prior to beginning the request processing lifecycle, by a
call to the getFacesContext method of FacesContextFactory, as described in Section 6.6
“FacesContextFactory”. When the request processing lifecycle has been completed, the JSF implementation will call the
release method, which gives JSF implementations the opportunity to release any acquired resources, as well as to pool
and recycle FacesContext instances rather than creating new ones for each request.
6.1.1 Application
public Application getApplication();
[P1-start-application]The JSF implementation must ensure that the Application instance for the current web
application is available via this method, as a convenient alternative to lookup via an ApplicationFactory.[P1-end]
6.1.2 Attributes
public Map<Object,Object> getAttributes();
[P1-start-attributes]Return a mutable Map representing the attributes associated wth this FacesContext instance. This
Map is useful to store attributes that you want to go out of scope when the Faces lifecycle for the current request ends,
which is not always the same as the request ending, especially in the case of Servlet filters that are invoked after the
Faces lifecycle for this request completes. Accessing this Map does not cause any events to fire, as is the case with the
other maps: for request, session, and application scope.[P1-end]
Chapter 6 Per-Request State Information 6-1

6.1.3 ELContext
public ELContext getELContext();
Return the ELContext instance for this FacesContext instance. This ELContext instance has the same lifetime
and scope as the FacesContext instance with which it is associated, and may be created lazily the first time this
method is called for a given FacesContext instance. [P1-start-elcontext]Upon creation of the ELContext instance, the
implementation must take the following action:
? Call the ELContext.putContext(java.lang.Class, java.lang.Object) method on the instance,
passing in FacesContext.class and the this reference for the FacesContext instance itself.
? If the Collection returned by javax.faces.Application.getELContextListeners() is non-empty,
create an instance of ELContextEvent and pass it to each ELContextListener instance in the Collection
by calling the ELContextListener.contextCreated(javax.el.ELContextEvent) method.[P1-end]
6.1.4 ExternalContext
It is sometimes necessary to interact with APIs provided by the containing environment in which the JavaServer Faces
application is running. In most cases this is the servlet API, but it is also possible for a JavaServer Faces application to
run inside of a portlet. JavaServer Faces provides the ExternalContext abstract class for this purpose. [P1-start-
externalContext]This class must be implemented along with the FacesContext class, and must be accessible via the
getExternalContext method in FacesContext.[P1-end]
public ExternalContext getExternalContext();
[P1-start externalContext during Init] The default implementation must return a valid value when this method is called
during startup time. See the javadocs for this method for the complete specification. [P1-end]
The ExternalContext instance provides immediate access to all of the components defined by the containing
environment (servlet or portlet) within which a JSF-based web application is deployed. The following table lists the
container objects available from ExternalContext. Note that the Access column refers to whether the returned
object is mutable. None of the properties may be set through ExternalContext. itself.
applicationMap RW java.util.Map The application context

attributes for this application.
authType RO String The method used to
authenticate the currently
logged on user (if any).
context RW Object The application context object
for this application.
initParameterMap RO java.util.Map The context initialization
parameters for this application
remoteUser RO String The login name of the
currently logged in user (if
any).
request RW Object The request object for this
request.
requestContextPath RO String The context path for this
application.

requestCookieMap RO java.util.Map The cookies included with this

request.
requestHeaderMap RO java.util.Map The HTTP headers included
with this request (value is a
String).
requestHeaderValuesMap RO java.util.Map .The HTTP headers included
with this request (value is a
String array).
requestLocale RW java.util. The preferred Locale for this
Locale request.
requestLocales RW java.util. The preferred Locales for this
Iterator request, in descending order
of preference.
requestMap RW java.util.Map The request scope attributes
for this request.
requestParameterMap RO java.util.Map The request parameters
included in this request (value
is a String).
requestParameterNames RO Iterator The set of request parameter
names included in this
request.
requestParameterValues RO java.util.Map The request parameters
Map included in this request (value
is a String array).
requestPathInfo RO String The extra path information
from the request URI for this
request.
requestServletPath RO String The servlet path information
from the request URI for this
request.
response RW Object The response object for the
current request.
sessionMap RW java.util.Map The session scope attributes
for this request*.
userPrincipal RO java.security.P The Principal object
rincipal containing the name of the
currently logged on user (if
any).
* Accessing attributes via this Map will cause the creation of a session associated with this request, if none currently exists.
See the JavaDocs for the normative specification.

6.1.4.1 Flash
The Flash provides a way to pass temporary objects between the user views generated by the faces lifecycle. Anything
one places in the flash will be exposed to the next view encountered by the same user session and then cleared out..
flash R Flash See the javadocs for the

complete specification.
6.1.5 ViewRoot
public UIViewRoot getViewRoot();
public void setViewRoot(UIViewRoot root);
During the Restore View phase of the request processing lifecycle, the state management subsystem of the JSF
implementation will identify the component tree (if any) to be used during the inbound processing phases of the
lifecycle, and call setViewRoot() to establish it.
6.1.6 Message Queue

public void addMessage(String clientId, FacesMessage message);
During the Apply Request Values, Process Validations, Update Model Values, and Invoke Application phases of the
request processing lifecycle, messages can be queued to either the component tree as a whole (if clientId is null),
or related to a specific component based on its client identifier.
public Interator<String> getClientIdsWithMessages();
public Severity getMaximumSeverity();
public Iterator<FacesMessage> getMessages(String clientId);
public Iterator<FacesMessage> getMessages();
[P1-start-messageQueue]The getClientIdsWithMessages() method must return an Iterator over the client

identifiers for which at least one Message has been queued. This method must be implemented so the clientIds are
returned in the order of calls to addMessage().[P1-end] The getMaximumSeverity() method returns the
highest severity level on any Message that has been queued, regardless of whether or not the message is associated with
a specific client identifier or not. The getMessages(String) method returns an Iterator over queued
Messages, either those associated with the specified client identifier, or those associated with no client identifier if the
parameter is null. The getMessages() method returns an Iterator over all queued Messages, whether or not
they are associated with a particular client identifier. Both of the getMessage() variants must be implemented such
that the messages are returned in the order in which they were added via calls to addMessage().
For more information about the Message class, see Section 6.3 “FacesMessage”.

6.1.7 RenderKit
public RenderKit getRenderKit();
Return the RenderKit associated with the render kit identifier in the current UIViewRoot (if any).
6.1.8 ResponseStream and ResponseWriter

public ResponseStream getResponseStream();
public void setResponseStream(ResponseStream responseStream);
public ResponseWriter getResponseWriter();
public void setResponseWriter(ResponseWriter responseWriter);
public void enableResponseWriting(boolean enable);
JSF supports output that is generated as either a byte stream or a character stream. UIComponents or Renderers that
wish to create output in a binary format should call getResponseStream() to acquire a stream capable of binary
output. Correspondingly, UIComponents or Renderers that wish to create output in a character format should call
getResponseWriter() to acquire a writer capable of character output.
Due to restrictions of the underlying servlet APIs, either binary or character output can be utilized for a particular
response—they may not be mixed.
Please see Section 7.6 “ViewHandler” to learn when setResponseWriter() and setResponseStream() are
called.
The enableResponseWriting method is useful to enable or disable the writing of content to the current
ResponseWriter instance in this FacesContext. [P1-start-enableWriting]If the enable argument is false,
content should not be written to the response if an attempt is made to use the current ResponseWriter.
6.1.9 Flow Control Methods

public void renderResponse();
public void responseComplete();
public boolean getRenderResponse();
public boolean getResponseComplete();
Normally, the phases of the request processing lifecycle are executed sequentially, as described in Chapter 2 “Request
Processing Lifecycle.” However, it is possible for components, event listeners, and validators to affect this flow by
calling one of these methods.

The renderResponse() method signals the JSF implementation that, at the end of the current phase (in other words,
after all of the processing and event handling normally performed for this phase is completed), control should be
transferred immediately to the Render Response phase, bypassing any intervening phases that have not yet been
performed. For example, an event listener for a tree control that was designed to process user interface state changes
(such as expanding or contracting a node) on the server would typically call this method to cause the current page to be
redisplayed, rather than being processed by the application.
The responseComplete() method, on the other hand, signals the JSF implementation that the HTTP response for
this request has been completed by some means other than rendering the component tree, and that the request processing
lifecycle for this request should be terminated when the current phase is complete. For example, an event listener that
decided an HTTP redirect was required would perform the appropriate actions on the response object (i.e. calling
ExternalContext.redirect()) and then call this method.
In some circumstances, it is possible that both renderResponse() and responseComplete() might have been
called for the request. [P1-start-flowControl]In this case, the JSF implementation must respect the
responseComplete() call (if it was made) before checking to see if renderResponse() was called.[P1-end]
The getRenderResponse() and getResponseComplete() methods allow a JSF-based application to determine

whether the renderResponse() or responseComplete() methods, respectively, have been called already for the current
request.
6.1.10 Partial Processing Methods
public PartialViewContext getPartialViewContext();
[P1-start-getpartialViewContext]The getPartialViewContext()method must return an instance of

PartialViewContext either by creating a new instance, or returning an existing instance from the
FacesContext.[P1-end-getpartialViewcontext]
6.1.11 Partial View Context

The PartialViewContext contains the constants, properties and methods to facilitate partial view processing and partial
view rendering. Refer to Section 13.4.2 “Partial View Processing” and Section 13.4.3 “Partial View Rendering”. Refer to
the JavaDocs for the javax.faces.context.PartialViewContext class for method requirements.
6.1.12 Access To The Current FacesContext Instance

public static FacesContext getCurrentInstance();
protected static void setCurrentInstance(FacesContext context);
Under most circumstances, JSF components, and application objects that access them, are passed a reference to the
FacesContext instance for the current request. However, in some cases, no such reference is available. The
getCurrentInstance() method may be called by any Java class in the current web application to retrieve an
instance of the FacesContext for this request. [P1-start-currentInstance]The JSF implementation must ensure that this
value is set correctly before FacesContextFactory returns a FacesContext instance, and that the value is
maintained in a thread-safe manner.[P1-end]

[P1-start facesContextDuringInit] The default implementation must allow this method to be called during application
startup time, before any requests have been serviced. If called during application startup time, the instance returned must
have the special properties as specified on the javadocs for FacesContext.getCurrentInstance()The . [P1-
end]
6.1.13 CurrentPhaseId
The default lifecycle implementation is responsible for setting the currentPhaseId property on the FacesContext
instance for this request, as specified in Section 2.2 “Standard Request Processing Lifecycle Phases”. The following table
describes this property.
currentPhaseId RW PhaseId The PhaseId constant for

the current phase of the
request processing lifecycle
6.1.14 ExceptionHandler
The FacesContextFactory ensures that each newly created FacesContext instance is initialized with a fresh
instance of ExceptionHandler, created from ExceptionHandlerFactory.The following table describes this
property.
exceptionHandler RW ExceptionHandle Set by

r FacesContextFactory.g
etFacesContext(), this
class is the default exception
handler for any unexpected
Exceptions that happen during
the Faces lifecycle. See the
Javadocs for
ExceptionHandler for
details.
Please see Section 12.3 “PhaseListener” for the circumstances under which ExceptionHandler is used.
6.2 ExceptionHandler
ExceptionHandler is the central point for handling unexpected Exceptions that are thrown during the Faces
lifecycle. The ExceptionHandler must not be notified of any Exceptions that occur during application startup or
shutdown.
Several places in the Faces specification require an Exception to be thrown as a result of normal lifecycle processing.
[P1-start_expected_exceptions]The following expected Exception cases must not be handled by the
ExceptionHandler.
? All cases where a ValidatorException is specified to be thrown or caught
? All cases where a ConverterException is specified to be thrown or caught

? The case when a MissingResourceException is thrown during the processing of the <f:loadBundle /> tag.
? If an exception is thrown when the runtime is processing the @PreDestroy annotation on a managed bean.
? All classes when an AbortProcessingException is thrown.
All other Exception cases must not be swallowed, and must be allowed to flow up to the Lifecycle.execute()
method where the individual lifecycle phases are implemented. [P1-end_expected_exceptions] At that point, all
Exceptions are passed to the ExceptionHandler as described in Section 12.3 “PhaseListener”.
Any code that is not a part of the core Faces implementation may leverage the ExceptionHandler in one of two
ways.
6.2.1 Default ExceptionHandler implementation

The default ExceptionHandler must implement the following behavior for each of its methods
public ExceptionQueuedEvent getHandledExceptionEvent();
Return the first “handled” ExceptionQueuedEvent, that is, the one that was actually re-thrown.
public Iterable<ExceptionQueuedEvent>
getHandledExceptionEvents();
The default implementation must return an Iterable over all ExceptionEvents that have been handled by the
handle() method.
public Throwable getRootCause(Throwable t);
Unwrap the argument t until the unwrapping encounters an Object whose getClass() is not equal to
FacesException.class or javax.el.ELException.class. If there is no root cause, null is returned.
public Iterable<ExceptionQueuedEvent>
getUnhandledExceptionEvents();
Return an Iterable over all ExceptionEvents that have not yet been handled by the handle() method.
public void handle() throws FacesException;
Inspect all unhandled ExceptionQueuedEvent instances in the order in which they were queued by calls to
Application.publishEvent(ExceptionQueuedEvent.class, eventContext).
For each ExceptionQueuedEvent in the list, call its getContext() method and call getException() on the
returned result. Upon encountering the first such Exception the corresponding ExceptionQueuedEvent must be
set so that a subsequent call to getHandledExceptionEvent() or getHandledExceptionEvents() returns
that ExceptionQueuedEvent instance. The implementation must also ensure that subsequent calls to
getUnhandledExceptionEvents() do not include that ExceptionQueuedEvent instance. Let toRethrow be
either the result of calling getRootCause() on the Exception, or the Exception itself, whichever is non-null.
Re-wrap toThrow in a ServletException or (PortletException, if in a portlet environment) and throw it,
allowing it to be handled by any <error-page> declared in the web application deployment descriptor or by the
default error page as described elsewhere in this section.

There are two exceptions to the above processing rules. In both cases, the Exception must be logged and not re-
thrown.
? If an unchecked Exception occurs as a result of calling a method annotated with PreDestroy on a managed
bean.
? If the Exception originates inside the ELContextListener.removeElContextListener() method
The FacesException must be thrown if and only if a problem occurs while performing the algorithm to handle the
Exception, not as a means of conveying a handled Exception itself.
public boolean isListenerForSource(Object source);
The default implementation must return true if and only if the source argument is an instance of
ExceptionEventContext.
public void processEvent(SystemEvent ExceptionQueuedEvent) throws

AbortProcessingException;
The default implementation must store the argument ExceptionQueuedEvent in a strongly ordered queue for later
processing by the handle() method.
6.2.2 Backwards Compatible ExceptionHandler

[P1-startPreJsf2ExceptionHandler]The runtime must provide an ExceptionHandlerFactory implementation with
the fully qualified java classname of javax.faces.webapp.PreJsf2ExceptionHandlerFactory that creates
ExceptionHandler instances that behave exactly like the default ExceptionHandler except that the handle()
method behaves as follows.
Versions of JSF prior to 2.0 stated in Section 12.3 “PhaseListener” “Any exceptions thrown during the
beforePhase() listeners must be caught, logged, and swallowed...Any exceptions thrown during the
afterPhase() liseteners must be caught, logged, and swallowed.” The PreJsf2ExceptionHandler restores
this behavior for backwards compatibilty.
The implementation must allow users to install this ExceptionHandlerFactory into the application by nesting
<exception-handler-
factory>javax.faces.webapp.PreJsf2ExceptionHandlerFactory</exception-handler-
factory> inside the <factory> element in the application configuration resource.[P1-endPreJsf2ExceptionHandler]
6.2.3 Default Error Page

If no <error-page> elements are declared in the web application deployment descriptor, the runtime must provide a
default error page that contains the following information.
? The stack trace of the Exception
? The UIComponent tree at the time the ExceptionQueuedEvent was handled.
? All scoped variables in request, view, session and application scope.
? If the error happens during the execution of the view declaration language page (VDL)
? The physical file being traversed at the time the Exception was thrown, such as /user.xhtml
? The line number within that physical file at the time the Exception was thrown
? Any available error message(s) from the VDL page, such as: “The prefix "foz" for element "foz:bear" is not
bound.”

? The viewId at the time the ExceptionQueuedEvent was handled
If Application.getProjectStage() returns ProjectStage.Development, the runtime must guarantee that

the above debug information is available to be included in any Facelet based error page using the <ui:include />
with a src attribute equal to the string “javax.faces.error.xhtml”.
6.3 FacesMessage
Each message queued within a FacesContext is an instance of the
javax.faces.application.FacesMessage class. The presence of one or more FacesMessage instances on
the FacesContext indicates a failure of some kind during the lifecycle. In particular, a validation or conversion failure
is required to cause a FacesMessage to be added to the FacesContext.
It offers the following constructors:
public FacesMessage();
public FacesMessage(String summary, String detail);
public FacesMessage(Severity severity, String summary, String

detail);
The following method signatures are supported to retrieve and set the properties of the completed message:
public String getDetail();

public void setDetail(String detail);
public Severity getSeverity();

public void setSeverity(Severity severity);
public String getSummary();

public void setSummary(String summary);
The message properties are defined as follows:

? detail—Localized detail text for this FacesMessage (if any). This will generally be additional text that can help
the user understand the context of the problem being reported by this FacesMessage, and offer suggestions for
correcting it.
? severity—A value defining how serious the problem being reported by this FacesMessage instance should be
considered. Four standard severity values (SEVERITY_INFO, SEVERITY_WARN, SEVERITY_ERROR, and
SEVERITY_FATAL) are defined as a typesafe enum in the FacesMessage class.
? summary—Localized summary text for this FacesMessage. This is normally a relatively short message that
concisely describes the nature of the problem being reported by this FacesMessage.
6.4 ResponseStream
ResponseStream is an abstract class representing a binary output stream for the current response. It has exactly the
same method signatures as the java.io.OutputStream class.

6.5 ResponseWriter
ResponseWriter is an abstract class representing a character output stream for the current response. A
ResponseWriter instance is obtained via a factory method on RenderKit. Please see Chapter 8 “RenderKit”. It
supports both low-level and high level APIs for writing character based information
public void close() throws IOException;
public void flush() throws IOException;
public void write(char c[]) throws IOException;
public void write(char c[], int off, int len) throws IOException;
public void write(int c) throws IOException;
public void write(String s) throws IOException;
public void write(String s, int off, int len) throws IOException;
The ResponseWriter class extends java.io.Writer, and therefore inherits these method signatures for low-level
output. The close() method flushes the underlying output writer, and causes any further attempts to output characters
to throw an IOException. The flush method flushes any buffered information to the underlying output writer, and
commits the response. The write methods write raw characters directly to the output writer.
public abstract String getContentType();

public abstract String getCharacterEncoding();
Return the content type or character encoding used to create this ResponseWriter.
public void startCDATA();

public void endCDATA();
Start and end an XML CDATA Section..
public void startDocument() throws IOException;

public void endDocument() throws IOException;
Write appropriate characters at the beginning (startDocument) or end (endDocument) of the current response.
public void startElement(String name, UIComponent

componentForElement) throws IOException;
Write the beginning of a markup element (the < character followed by the element name), which causes the
ResponseWriter implementation to note internally that the element is open. This can be followed by zero or more
calls to writeAttribute or writeURIAttribute to append an attribute name and value to the currently open
element. The element will be closed (i.e. the trailing > added) on any subsequent call to startElement(),
writeComment(), writeText(), endDocument(), close(), flush(), or write(). The
componentForElement parameter tells the ResponseWriter which UIComponent this element corresponds to,

if any. This parameter may be null to indicate that the element has no corresponding component. The presence of this
parameter allows tools to provide their own implementation of ResponseWriter to allow the design time environment
to know which component corresponds to which piece of markup.
public void endElement(String name) throws IOException;
Write a closing for the specified element, closing any currently opened element first if necessary.
public void writeComment(Object comment) throws IOException;
Write a comment string wrapped in appropriate comment delimiters, after converting the comment object to a String
first. Any currently opened element is closed first.
public void writeAttribute(String name, Object value, String

componentPropertyName) throws IOException;
public void writeURIAttribute(String name, Object value, String

componentPropertyName) throws IOException;
These methods add an attribute name/value pair to an element that was opened with a previous call to
startElement(), throwing an exception if there is no currently open element. The writeAttribute() method
causes character encoding to be performed in the same manner as that performed by the writeText() methods. The
writeURIAttribute() method assumes that the attribute value is a URI, and performs URI encoding (such as %
encoding for HTML). The componentPropertyName, if present, denotes the property on the associated
UIComponent for this element, to which this attribute corresponds. The componentPropertyName parameter may
be null to indicate that this attribute has no corresponding property.
public void writeText(Object text, String property) throws

IOException;
public void writeText(char text[], int off, int len) throws

IOException;
Write text (converting from Object to String first, if necessary), performing appropriate character encoding and
escaping. Any currently open element created by a call to startElement is closed first.
public abstract ResponseWriter cloneWithWriter(Writer writer);
Creates a new instance of this ResponseWriter, using a different Writer.

6.6 FacesContextFactory
[P1-start-facesContextFactory]A single instance of javax.faces.context.FacesContextFactory must be
made available to each JSF-based web application running in a servlet or portlet container.[P1-end] This class is
primarily of use by JSF implementors—applications will not generally call it directly. The factory instance can be
acquired, by JSF implementations or by application code, by executing:
FacesContextFactory factory =
(FacesContextFactory)
FactoryFinder.getFactory(FactoryFinder.FACES_CONTEXT_FACTORY);
pThe FacesContextFactory implementation class provides the following method signature to create (or recycle
from a pool) a FacesContext instance:
public FacesContext getFacesContext(Object context, Object

request, Object response, Lifecycle lifecycle);
Create (if necessary) and return a FacesContext instance that has been configured based on the specified parameters.
In a servlet environment, the first argument is a ServletContext, the second a ServletRequest and the third a
ServletResponse.
6.7 ExceptionHandlerFactory
[P1-start-exceptionHandlerFactory]A single instance of javax.faces.context.ExceptionHandlerFactory
must be made available to each JSF-based web application running in a servlet or portlet container.[P1-end] The factory
instance can be acquired, by JSF implementations or by application code, by executing:
ExceptionHandlerFactory factory =
(ExceptionHandlerFactory)
FactoryFinder.getFactory(FactoryFinder.EXCEPTION_HANDLER_FAC-
TORY);
The ExceptionHandlerFactory implementation class provides the following method signature to create an
ExceptionHandler instance:
public ExceptionHandler getExceptionHandler(FacesContext

currentContext);
Create and return a ExceptionHandler instance that has been configured based on the specified parameters.

6.8 ExternalContextFactory
[P1-start-externalContextFactory]A single instance of javax.faces.context.ExternalContextFactory must
be made available to each JSF-based web application running in a servlet or portlet container.[P1-end] This class is
primarily of use by JSF implementors—applications will not generally call it directly. The factory instance can be
acquired, by JSF implementations or by application code, by executing:
ExternalContextFactory factory =
(ExternalContextFactory)
FactoryFinder.getFactory(FactoryFinder.EXTERNAL_CONTEXT_FAC-
TORY);
pThe ExternalContextFactory implementation class provides the following method signature to create (or recycle
from a pool) a FacesContext instance:
public ExternalContext getExternalContext(Object context, Object

request, Object response);
Create (if necessary) and return an ExternalContext instance that has been configured based on the specified
parameters. In a servlet environment, the first argument is a ServletContext, the second a ServletRequest and
the third a ServletResponse.

7
Application Integration
Previous chapters of this specification have described the component model, request state information, and the next
chapter describes the rendering model for JavaServer Faces user interface components. This chapter describes APIs that
are used to link an application’s business logic objects, as well as convenient pluggable mechanisms to manage the
execution of an application that is based on JavaServer Faces. These classes are in the javax.faces.application
package.
Access to application related information is centralized in an instance of the Application class, of which there is a
single instance per application based on JavaServer Faces. Applications will typically provide one or more
implementations of ActionListener (or a method that can be referenced by an action expression) in order to
respond to ActionEvent events during the Apply Request Values or Invoke Application phases of the request
processing lifecycle. Finally, a standard implementation of NavigationHandler (replaceable by the application or
framework) is provided to manage the selection of the next view to be rendered.
7.1 Application
There must be a single instance of Application per web application that is utilizing JavaServer Faces. It can be
acquired by calling the getApplication() method on the FacesContext instance for the current request, or the
getApplication() method of the ApplicationFactory (see Section 7.2 “ApplicationFactory”), and provides
default implementations of features that determine how application logic interacts with the JSF implementation.
Advanced applications (or application frameworks) can install replacements for these default implementations, which
will be used from that point on. Access to several integration objects is available via JavaBeans property getters and
setters, as described in the following subsections.
7.1.1 ActionListener Property

public ActionListener getActionListener();
public void setActionListener(ActionListener listener);
Return or replace an ActionListener instance that will be utilized to process ActionEvent events during the
Apply Request Values or Invoke Application phase of the request processing lifecycle. [P1-start default ActionListener
requirements] The JSF implementation must provide a default implementation ActionListener that performs the
following functions:
? The processAction() method must first call FacesContext.renderResponse() in order to bypass any
intervening lifecycle phases, once the method returns.
? The processAction() method must next determine the logical outcome of this event, as follows:
Chapter 7 Application Integration 7-1

? If the originating component has a non-null action property, retrieve the MethodBinding and call invoke()
to perform the application-specified processing in this action method. If the method returns non-null, call
toString() on the result and use the value returned as the logical outcome. See Section 3.2.1.1 “Properties” for
a decription of the action property.
? Otherwise, the logical outcome is null.
? The processAction() method must finally retrieve the NavigationHandler instance for this application, and
pass the logical outcome value (determined above) as a parameter to the handleNavigation() method of the
NavigationHandler instance. If the originating component has an attribute whose name is equal to the value of
the symbolic constant ActionListener.TO_FLOW_DOCUMENT_ID_ATTR_NAME, invoke
handleNavigation(FacesContext, String, String, String) passing the value of the attribute as
the last parameter. Otherwise, invoke handleNavigation(FacesContext, String, String). In either
case, the first String argument is the expression string of the fromAction and the second String argument is
the logical outcome.[P1-end]
See the Javadocs for getActionListener() for important backwards compatability information.
7.1.2 DefaultRenderKitId Property

public String getDefaultRenderKitId();
public void setDefaultRenderKitId(String defaultRenderKitId);
An application may specify the render kit identifier of the RenderKit to be used by the ViewHandler to render
views for this application. If not specified, the default render kit identifier specified by
RenderKitFactory.HTML_BASIC_RENDER_KIT will be used by the default ViewHandler implementation.
[P1-start defaultRenderKit called after startup] Unless the application has provided a custom ViewHandler that
supports the use of multiple RenderKit instances in the same application, this method may only be called at application
startup, before any Faces requests have been processed. [P1-end] This is a limitation of the current Specification, and
may be lifted in a future release.
7.1.3 FlowHandler Property

public FlowHandler getFlowHandler();
public void setFlowHandler(FlowHandler handler);
Return or replace the FlowHandler that will be used by the NavigationHandler to make decisions about
navigating application flow. See Section 7.5 “FlowHandler” for an overview of the flow feature.
[P1-start flowHandler called after startup] setFlowHandler()may only be called at application startup, before any
Faces requests have been processed. [P1-end] This is a limitation of the current Specification, and may be lifted in a
future release. getFlowHandler() may be called at any time after application startup.

7.1.4 NavigationHandler Property
public NavigationHandler getNavigationHandler();
public void setNavigationHandler(NavigationHandler handler);
Return or replace the NavigationHandler instance (see Section 7.4 “NavigationHandler”) that will be passed the
logical outcome of the application ActionListener as described in the previous subsection. A default
implementation must be provided, with functionality described in Section 7.4.2 “Default NavigationHandler Algorithm”:
7.1.5 StateManager Property

public StateManager getStateManager();
public void setStateManager(StateManager manager);
Return or replace the StateManager instance that will be utilized during the Restore View and Render Response
phases of the request processing lifecycle to manage state persistence for the components belonging to the current view.
A default implementation must be provided, which operates as described in Section 7.8 “StateManager”.
7.1.6 ELResolver Property

public ELResolver getELResolver();
public void addELResolver(ELResolver resolver);
[N/T-start elresolver test] Return the ELResolver instance to be used for all EL resolution. This is actually an instance
of javax.el.CompositeELResolver that must contain the ELResolver instances as specified in Section 5.6.2
“ELResolver for Facelets and Programmatic Access”. [N/T-end]
[N/T-start addELResolver ordering] addELResolver must cause the argument resolver to be added at the end of the
list in the javax.el.CompositeELResolver returned from getELResolver(). See the diagram in Section 5.6.2
“ELResolver for Facelets and Programmatic Access” [N/T-end]
7.1.7 ELContextListener Property

public addELContextListener(ELContextListener listener);
public void removeELContextListener(ELContextListener listener);
public ELContextListener[] getELContextListeners();
addELContextListener() registers an ELContextListener for the current Faces application. This listener will be
notified on creation of ELContext instances, and it will be called once per request.

removeELContextListener() removes the argument listener from the list of ELContextListeners. If
listener is null, no exception is thrown and no action is performed. If listener is not in the list, no exception is
thrown and no action is performed.
getELContextListeners() returns an array representing the list of listeners added by calls to

addELContextListener().
7.1.8 ViewHandler Property

public ViewHandler getViewHandler();
public void setViewHandler(ViewHandler handler);
See Section 7.6 “ViewHandler” for the description of the ViewHandler. The JSF implementation must provide a default
ViewHandler implementation. This implementation may be replaced by calling setViewHandler() before the first
time the Render Response phase has executed. [P1-start setViewHandler() called after startup] If a call is made to
setViewHandler() after the first time the Render Response phase has executed, the call must be ignored by the
implementation. [P1-end]
7.1.9 ProjectStage Property

public ProjectStage getProjectStage();
[P1-start getProjectStage]This method must return the enum constant from the class
javax.faces.application.ProjectStage as specified in the corresponding application init parameter, JNDI entry,
or default Value. See Section 11.1.3 “Application Configuration Parameters”.[P1-end]
7.1.10 Acquiring ExpressionFactory Instance

public ExpressionFactory getExpressionFactory();
Return the ExpressionFactory instance for this application. This instance is used by the evaluateExpressionGet
(Section 7.1.11 “Programmatically Evaluating Expressions”) convenience method.
[P1-start getExpressionFactory requirements] The default implementation simply returns the ExpressionFactory
from the JSP container by calling
JspFactory.getDefaultFactory().getJspApplicationContext(servletContext).getExpressionFac
tory(). [P1-end]

7.1.11 Programmatically Evaluating Expressions
public Object evaluateExpressionGet(FacesContext context, String
expression, Class expectedType)
Get a value by evaluating an expression.
Call getExpressionFactory().createValueExpression() passing the argument expression and

expectedType. Call FacesContext.getELContext() and pass it to ValueExpression.getValue(),
returning the result.
It is also possible and sometimes desireable to obtain the actual ValueExpression or MethodExpression instance
directly. This can be accomplished by using the createValueExpression() or createMethodExpression()
methods on the ExpressionFactory returned from getExpressionFactory().
7.1.12 Object Factories

The Application instance for a web application also acts as an object factory for the creation of new JSF objects such
as components, converters, validators and behaviors..
public UIComponent createComponent(String componentType);

public UIComponent createComponent(String componentType,
String rendererType);
public Converter createConverter(Class targetClass);
public Converter createConverter(String converterId);
public Validator createValidator(String validatorId);
public Behavior createBehavior(String behaviorId);
Each of these methods creates a new instance of an object of the requested type1, based on the requested identifier. The
names of the implementation class used for each identifier is normally provided by the JSF implementation automatically
(for standard classes described in this Specification), or in one or more application configuration resources (see
Section 11.4 “Application Configuration Resources”) included with a JSF web application, or embedded in a JAR file
containing the corresponding implementation classes.
All variants createConverter() must take some action to inspect the converter for @ResourceDependency and
@ListenerFor annotations.
public UIComponent createComponent(ValueExpression

componentExpression, FacesContext context, String componentType);
[P1-start createComponent(ValueExpression) requirements] This method has the following behavior:

? Call the getValue() method on the specified ValueExpression, in the context of the specified
FacesContext. If this results in a non-null UIComponent instance, return it as the value of this method.
1. Converters can also be requested based on the object class of the value to be converted.

? If the getValue() call did not return a component instance, create a new component instance of the specified
component type, pass the new component to the setValue() method of the specified ValueExpression, and
return it.[P1-end]
public UIComponent createComponent(FacesContext context, Resource

componentResource);
All variants createComponent() must take some action to inspect the component for @ResourceDependency
and @ListenerFor annotations. Please see the JavaDocs and Section 3.6.2.1 “Composite Component Metadata” for
the normative specification relating to this method.
public void addComponent(String componentType, String

componentClass);
public void addConverter(Class targetClass, String

converterClass);
public void addConverter(String converterId, String

converterClass);
public void addValidator(String validatorId, String

validatorClass);
public void addBehavior(String behaviorId, String behaviorClass);
JSF-based applications can register additional mappings of identifiers to a corresponding fully qualified class name, or
replace mappings provided by the JSF implementation in order to customize the behavior of standard JSF features. These
methods are also used by the JSF implementation to register mappings based on <component>, <converter>,
<behavior> and <validator> elements discovered in an application configuration resource.
public Iterator<String> getComponentTypes();
public Iterator<String> getConverterIds();
public Iterator<Class> getConverterTypes();
public Iterator<String> getValidatorIds();
public Iterator<String> getBehaviorIds();
JSF-based applications can ask the Application instance for a list of the registered identifiers for components,
converters, and validators that are known to the instance.
7.1.12.1 Default Validator Ids

From the list of mappings of validatorId to fully qualified class name, added to the application via calls to
addValidator(), the application maintains a subset of that list under the heading of default validator ids. The
following methods provide access to the default validator ids registered on an application:
public void addDefaultValidatorId(String validatorId);

public Map<String,String> getDefaultValidatorInfo();
The required callsites for these methods are specified in Section 3.5.3 “Validation Registration”.

7.1.13 Internationalization Support
The following methods and properties allow an application to describe its supported locales, and to provide replacement
text for standard messages created by JSF objects.
public Iterator<Locale> getSupportedLocales();

public void setSupportedLocales(Collection<Locale> newLocales);
public Locale getDefaultLocale();
public void setDefaultLocale(Locale newLocale);
JSF applications may state the Locales they support (and the default Locale within the set of supported Locales) in
the application configuration resources file. The setters for the following methods must be called when the configuration
resources are parsed. Each time the setter is called, the previous value is overwritten.
public String getMessageBundle();
public void setMessageBundle(String messageBundle);
Specify the fully qualified name of the ResourceBundle from which the JSF implementation will acquire message strings
that correspond to standard message keys See Section 2.5.2.4 “Localized Application Messages” for a list of the standard
message keys recognized by JSF.
7.1.14 System Event Methods

System events are described in Section 3.4.3 “System Events”. This section describes the methods defined on
Application that support system events
7.1.14.1 Subscribing to system events
public abstract void subscribeToEvent(Class<? extends SystemEvent>

systemEventClass, SystemEventListener listener)
public abstract void subscribeToEvent(Class<? extends SystemEvent>
systemEventClass, Class sourceClass, SystemEventListener
listener);
public abstract void publishEvent(Class<? extends SystemEvent>
systemEventClass, SystemEventListenerHolder source);
public void publishEvent(Class<? extends SystemEvent>
systemEventClass, Class<?> sourceBaseType, Object source)
The first variant of subscribeToEvent() subscribes argument listener to have its isListenerForSource()
method, and (depending on the result from isListenerForSource()) its processEvent() method called any
time any call is made to Application.publishEvent(Class<? extends SystemEvent>
systemEventClass, SystemEventListenerHolder source) where the first argument in the call to
publishEvent() is equal to the first argument to subscribeToEvent(). [P1-start eventClassAndInheritance]
NOTE: The implementation must not support subclasses for the systemEventClass and/or sourceClass
arguments to subscribeToEvent() or publishEvent().[P1-end] For example, consider two event types,
SuperEvent and SubEvent extends SuperEvent. If a listener subscribes to SuperEvent.class events, but
later someone publishes a SubEvent.class event (which extends SuperEvent), the listener for
SuperEvent.class must not be called.

The second variant of subscribeToEvent() is equivalent to the first, with the additional constraint the the
sourceClass argument to publishEvent() must be equal to the Class object obtained by calling getClass()
on the source argument to publishEvent().
See the javadocs for both variants of subscribeForEvent() for the complete specification of these methods.
publishEvent() is called by the system at several points in time during the runtime of a JSF application. The
specification for when publishEvent() is called is given in the javadoc for the event classes that are listed in
Section 3.4.2.1 “Event Classes”. See the javadoc for publishEvent() for the complete specification.
7.1.14.2 Unsubscribing from system events
public abstract void unsubscribeFromEvent(Class<? extends

SystemEvent> systemEventClass, SystemEventListener listener);
public abstract void unsubscribeFromEvent(Class<? extends
SystemEvent> systemEventClass, Class sourceClass,
SystemEventListener listener);
See the javadocs for both variants of unsubscribeFromEvent() for the complete specification.
7.2 ApplicationFactory
A single instance of javax.faces.application.ApplicationFactory must be made available to each JSF-
based web application running in a servlet or portlet container. The factory instance can be acquired by JSF
implementations or by application code, by executing:
ApplicationFactory factory = (ApplicationFactory)

FactoryFinder.getFactory(FactoryFinder.APPLICATION_FACTORY);
The ApplicationFactory implementation class supports the following methods:
public Application getApplication();
public void setApplication(Application application);
Return or replace the Application instance for the current web application. The JSF implementation must provide a
default Application instance whose behavior is described in Section 7.1 “Application”.
Note that applications will generally find it more convenient to access the Application instance for this application
by calling the getApplication() method on the FacesContext instance for the current request.
7.3 Application Actions

An application action is an application-provided method on some Java class that performs some application-specified
processing when an ActionEvent occurs, during either the Apply Request Values or the Invoke Application phase of
the request processing lifecycle (depending upon the immediate property of the ActionSource instance initiating
the event).

Application action is not a formal JSF API; instead any method that meets the following requirements may be used as an
Action by virtue of evaluating a method binding expression:
? The method must be public.
? The method must take no parameters.
? The method must return Object.
The action method will be called by the default ActionListener implementation, as described in Section 7.1.1
“ActionListener Property” above. Its responsibility is to perform the desired application actions, and then return a logical
“outcome” (represented as a String) that can be used by a NavigationHandler in order to determine which view
should be rendered next. The action method to be invoked is defined by a MethodBinding that is specified in the
action property of a component that implements ActionSource. Thus, a component tree with more than one such
ActionSource component can specify individual action methods to be invoked for each activated component, either
in the same Java class or in different Java classes.
7.4 NavigationHandler
7.4.1 Overview
Most JSF applications can be thought of as a directed graph of views, each node of which roughly corresponds to the
user’s perception of “location” within the application. Applications that use the Faces Flows feature have additional
kinds of nodes in the directed graph. In any case, navigating the nodes of this graph is the responsibility of the
NavigationHandler. A single NavigationHandler instance is responsible for consuming the logical outcome
returned by an application action that was invoked, along with additional state information that is available from the
FacesContext instance for the current request, and (optionally) selecting a new view to be rendered. If the outcome
returned by the applicationaction is null or the empty string, and none of the navigation cases that map to the current
view identifier have a non-null condition expression, the same view must be re-displayed. This is a change from the old
behavior. As of JSF 2.0, the NavigationHandler is consulted even on a null outcome, but under this circumstance it
only checks navigation cases that do not specify an outcome (no <from-outcome>) and have a condition expression
(specified with <if>). This is the only case where the same view (and component tree) is re-used.
public void handleNavigation(FacesContext context, String

fromAction, String outcome);
The handleNavigation method may select a new view by calling createView() on the ViewHandler instance
for this application, optionally customizing the created view, and then selecting it by calling the setViewRoot()
method on the FacesContext instance that is passed. Alternatively, the NavigationHandler can complete the
actual response (for example, by issuing an HTTP redirect), and call responseComplete() on the FacesContext
instance.
After a return from the handleNavigation method, control will normally proceed to the Render Response phase of
the request processing lifecycle (see Section 2.2.6 “Render Response”), which will cause the newly selected view to be
rendered. If the NavigationHandler called the responseComplete() method on the FacesContext instance,
however, the Render Response phase will be bypassed.
Prior to JSF 2, the NavigationHandler's sole task was to execute the navigation for a given scenario. JSF 2 introduces the
ConfigurableNavigationHandler interface, which extends the contract of the NavigationHandler to
include two additional methods that accomodate runtime inspection of the NavigationCases that represent the rule-based
navigation metamodel. The method getNavigationCase consults the NavigationHandler to determine which
NavigationCase the handleNavigation method would resolve for a given "from action" expression and logical

outcome combination. The method getNavigationCases returns a java.util.Map of all the NavigationCase
instances known to this NavigationHandler. Each key in the map is a from view ID and the cooresponding value is
a java.util.Set of NavigationCases for that from view ID.
public NavigationCase getNavigationCase(FacesContext context,

String fromAction, String outcome);
public Map<String, Set<NavigationCase>> getNavigationCases();
[P1-start-configurablenavhandler]A JSF 2 compliant-implemention must ensure that its NavigationHandler

implements the ConfigurableNavigationHandler interface. The handleNavigation and
getNavigationCase methods should use the same logic to resolve a NavigationCase, which is outlined in the
next section.[P1-end]
7.4.2 Default NavigationHandler Algorithm

JSF implementations must provide a default NavigationHandler implementation that maps the action reference that
was utilized (by the default ActionListener implementation) to invoke an application action, the logical outcome
value returned by that application action, as well as other state information, into the view identifier for the new view or
flow node to be selected. The remainder of this section describes the functionality provided by this default
implementation.
The behavior of the default NavigationHandler implementation is configured, at web application startup time, from
the contents of zero or more application configuration resources (see Section 11.4 “Application Configuration
Resources”). The configuration information is represented as zero or more <navigation-rule> elements, each
keyed to a matching pattern for the view identifier of the current view expressed in a <from-view-id> element. This
matching pattern must be either an exact match for a view identifier (such as “/index.jsp” if you are using the default
ViewHandler), or the prefix of a component view id, followed by an asterisk (“*”) character. A matching pattern of
“*”, or the lack of a <from-view-id> element inside a <navigation-rule> rule, indicates that this rule matches
any possible component view identifier.
Version 2.2 of the specification introduced the Faces Flows feature. [P1-start-FlowNavigationConstraints] With respect
to the navigation algorithm, any text that references a view identifier, such as <from-view-id> or <to-view-id>,
can also refer to a flow node, subject to these constraints.
? When outside of a flow, view identifier has the additional possibility of being a flow id.
? When inside a flow, a view identifier has the additional possibility of being the id of any node within the current
flow.[P1-end]
If the specification needs to refer to a view identifier that is an actual VDL view (and not a VDL view or a flow, or flow
node), the term vdl view identifier will be used.
Nested within each <navigation-rule> element are zero or more <navigation-case> elements that contain
additional matching criteria based on the action reference expression value used to select an application action to be
invoked (if any), and the logical outcome returned by calling the invoke() method of that application action2. As of
JSF 2, navigation cases support a condition element, <if>, whose content must be a single, contiguous value expression
expected to resolve to a boolean value (if the content does not match this requirement, the condition is ignored)3. When
the <if> element is present, the value expression it contains must evaluate to true when the navigation case is being
consulted in order for the navigation case to match4. Finally, the <navigation-case> element contains a <to-view-id>
element, whose content is either the view identifier or a value expression that resolves to the view identifier. If the
2. It is an error to specify more than one <navigation-case>, nested within one or more <navigation-rule> elements with the same <from-view-id> matching
pattern, that have exactly the same combination of <from-xxx>, unless each is discriminated by a unique <if> element.
3. The presence of the <if> element in the absense of the <from-outcome> element is characterized as an alternate, contextual means of obtai
ning a logical outcome and thus the navigation case is checked even when the application action returns a a null (or void) outcome value.
4. Note that multiple conditions can be checked using the built-in operators and grouping provided by the Expression Language (e.g., and, or, not).

navigation case is a match, this view identifier is to be selected and stored in the FacesContext for the current request
following the invocation of the NavigationHandler. See below for an example of the configuration information for the
default NavigationHandler might be configured.
It is permissible for the application configuration resource(s) used to configure the default NavigationHandler to
include more than one <navigation-rule> element with the same <from-view-id> matching pattern. For the
purposes of the algorithm described below, all of the nested <navigation-case> elements for all of these rules shall
be treated as if they had been nested inside a single <navigation-rule> element.
[P1-start navigation handler requirements] The default NavigationHandler implementation must behave as if it
were performing the following algorithm (although optimized implementation techniques may be utilized):
? If no navigation case is matched by a call to the handleNavigation() method, this is an indication that the current view
should be redisplayed. As of JSF 2.0, a null outcome does not unconditionally cause all navigation rules to be
skipped.
? Find a <navigation-rule> element for which the view identifier (of the view in the FacesContext instance
for the current request) matches the <from-view-id> matching pattern of the <navigation-rule>. Rule
instances are considered in the following order:
? An exact match of the view identifier against a <from-view-id> pattern that does not end with an asterisk (“*”)
character.
? For <from-view-id> patterns that end with an asterisk, an exact match on characters preceding the asterisk
against the prefix of the view id. If the patterns for multiple navigation rules match, pick the longest matching
prefix first.
? If there is a <navigation-rule> with a <from-view-id> pattern of only an asterisk5, it matches any view
identifier.
? From the <navigation-case> elements nested within the matching <navigation-rule> element, locate a
matching navigation case by matching the <from-action> and <from-outcome> values against the
fromAction and outcome parameter values passed to the handleNavigation() method. To match an outcome
value of null, the <from-outcome> must be absent and the <if> element present. Regardless of outcome value, if
the <if> element is present, evaluate the content of this element as a value expression and only select the navigation
case if the expression resolves to true. Navigation cases are checked in the following order:
? Cases specifying both a <from-action> value and a <from-outcome> value are matched against the
action expression and outcome parameters passed to the handleNavigation() method (both parameters
must be not null, and both must be equal to the corresponding condition values, in order to match).
? Cases that specify only a <from-outcome> value are matched against the outcome parameter passed to the
handleNavigation() method (which must be not null, and equal to the corresponding condition value, to
match).
? Cases that specify only a <from-action> value are matched against the action expression parameter passed
to the handleNavigation() method (which must be non-null, and equal to the corresponding condition value,
to match; if the <if> element is absent, only match a non-null outcome; otherwise, match any outcome).
? Any remaining case is assumed to match so long as the outcome parameter is non-null or the <if> element is
present.
? For cases that match up to this point and contain an <if> element, the condition value expression must be evaluated
and the resolved value true for the case to match.
? If a matching <navigation-case> element was located, proceed as follows.
? If the <to-view-id> element is the id of a flow, discover that flow’s start node and resolve it to a vdl view
identifier by following the algorithm in Section 7.4.2.1 “Requirements for Explicit Navigation in Faces Flow Call
Nodes other than ViewNodes”
? If the <to-view-id> element is a non-view flow node, resolve it to a vdl view identifier by following the
algorithm in Section 7.4.2.1 “Requirements for Explicit Navigation in Faces Flow Call Nodes other than
ViewNodes”.
5. Or, equivalently, with no <from-view-id> element at all.

? If UIViewAction.isProcessingBroadcast() returns true, call
getFlash().setKeepMessages(true) on the current FacesContext. Compare the viewId of the current
viewRoot with the <to-view-id> of the matching <navigation-case>. If they differ, take any necessary
actions to effectively restart the JSF lifecycle on the<to-view-id> of the matching <navigation-case>.
Care must be taken to preserve any view parameters or navigation case parameters, clear the view map of the
UIViewRoot, and call setRenderAll(true) on the PartialViewContext. Implementations may choose
to meet this requirement by treating this case as if a <redirect /> was specified on the matching
<navigation-case>. If the viewIds do not differ, continue on to the next bullet point.
? Clear the view map if the viewId of the new UIViewRoot differs from the viewId of the current UIViewRoot.
? If the <redirect/> element was not specified in this <navigation-case> (or the application is running in
a Portlet environment, where redirects are not possible), use the <to-view-id> element of the matching case to
request a new UIViewRoot instance from the ViewHandler instance for this application. Call
transition() on the FlowHandler, passing the current FacesContext, the current flow, the new flow and
the facesFlowCallNode corresponding to this faces flow call, if any. Pass the new UIViewRoot to the
setViewRoot() method of the FacesContext instance for the current request.
Then, exit the algorithm. If the content of <to-view-id> is a value expression, first evaluate it to obtain the value
of the view id.
? If the <redirect/> element was specified in this <navigation-case>, or this invocation of
handleNavigation() was due to a UIViewAction broadcast event where the new viewId is different from
the current viewId, resolve the <to-view-id> to a view identifier, using the algorithm in Section 7.4.2.1
“Requirements for Explicit Navigation in Faces Flow Call Nodes other than ViewNodes”. Call
getRedirectURL() on the ViewHandler, passing the current FacesContext, the <to-view-id>, any
name=value parameter pairs specified within <view-param> elements within the <redirect> element, and
the value of the include-view-params attribute of the <redirect /> element if present, false, if not. If
this navigation is a flow transition (where current flow is not the same as the new flow), include the relevant flow
metadata as entries in the parameters.
If current flow is not null and new flow is null, include the following entries:
FlowHandler.TO_FLOW_DOCUMENT_ID_REQUEST_PARAM_NAME: FlowHandler.NULL_FLOW
FlowHandler.FLOW_ID_REQUEST_PARAM_NAME: “” (the empty string)
If current flow is null and new flow is not null, include the following entries:
FlowHandler.TO_FLOW_DOCUMENT_ID_REQUEST_PARAM_NAME: The to flow document id
FlowHandler.FLOW_ID_REQUEST_PARAM_NAME: the flow id for the flow that is the destination of the
transition.
If the parameters map has entries for either of these keys, both of the entries must be replaced with the new
values. This allows the call to FlowHandler.clientWindowTransition() to perform correctly when
the GET request after the redirect happens.
The return from getRedirectURL() is the value to be sent to the client to which the redirect will occur. Call
getFlash().setRedirect(true) on the current FacesContext. Cause the current response to perform
an HTTP redirect to this path, and call responseComplete() on the FacesContext instance for the current
request. If the content of <to-view-id> is a value expression, first evaluate it to obtain the value of the view id.
? If no matching <navigation-case> element was located, return to Step 1 and find the next matching
<navigation-rule> element (if any). If there are no more matching rule elements, execute the following
algorithm to search for an implicit match based on the current outcome. This implicit matching algorithm also
includes navigating within the current faces flow, and returning from the current faces flow.
? Let outcome be viewIdToTest.
? Examine the viewIdToTest for the presence of a “?” character, indicating the presence of a URI query string. If one
is found, remove the query string from viewIdToTest, including the leading “?” and let it be queryString, look for
the string “faces-redirect=true” within the query string. If found, let isRedirect be true, otherwise let
isRedirect be false. Look for the string “includeViewParams=true” or “faces-include-view-
params=true”. If either are found, let includeViewParams be true, otherwise let includeViewParams be
false. When performing preemptive navigation, redirect is implied, even if the navigation case doesn't indicate
it, and the query string must be preserved. Refer to Section 4.1.9 “UIOutcomeTarget” for more information on
preemptive navigation.

? If viewIdToTest does not have a “file extension”, take the file extension from the current viewId and append it
properly to viewIdToTest.
? If viewIdToTest does not begin with “/”, take the current viewId and look for the last “/”. If not found, prepend
a “/” and continue. Otherwise remove all characters in viewId after, but not including, “/”, then append
viewIdToTest and let the result be viewIdToTest.
? Obtain the current ViewHandler and call its deriveViewId() method, passing the current FacesContext and
viewIdToTest. If UnsupportedOperationException is thrown, which will be the case if the ViewHandler
is a Pre JSF 2.0 ViewHandler, the implementation must ensure the algorithm described for
ViewHandler.deriveViewId() specified in Section 7.6.2 “Default ViewHandler
Implementation” is performed. Let the result be implicitViewId.
? If implicitViewId is non-null, discover if fromOutcome is equal to the flow-id of an existing flow in the
FlowHandler. If so find the start node of the flow. If the start node is a ViewNode, let viewIdToTest be the
vdlDocumentId value of the ViewNode. Call deriveViewId as in the preceding step and let the result be
implicitViewId. If fromOutcome is not equal to the flow-id of an existing flow in the FlowHandler, and we are
currently in a flow, discover if this is call to a faces-flow-return node. If so, obtain the fromOutcome of
the faces-flow-return node, re-apply this algorithm to derive the value of the implicitViewId and continue.
? If the implicitViewId is non-null, take the following action. If isRedirect is true, append the queryString to
implicitViewId. Let implicitNavigationCase be a conceptual <navigation-case> element whose
fromViewId is the current viewId, fromAction is passed through from the arguments to
handleNavigation(), fromOutcome is passed through from the arguments to handleNavigation(),
toViewId is implicitViewId, and redirect is the value of isRedirect, and include-view-params is
includeViewParams. Treat implicitNavigationCase as a matching navigation case and return to the first step above
that starts with “If a matching <navigation-case> element was located...”.
? If UIViewAction.isProcessingBroadcast() returns true, call
getFlash().setKeepMessages(true) on the current FacesContext. Compare the viewId of the current
viewRoot with the effective <to-view-id> of the matching <navigation-case>. If they differ, take any
necessary actions effectively restart the JSF lifecycle on the effective <to-view-id> of the matching
<navigation-case>. Care must be taken to preserve any view parameters or navigation case parameters, clear the
view map of the UIViewRoot, and call setRenderAll(true) on the PartialViewContext.
? If none of the above steps found a matching <navigation-case>, perform the steps in Section 7.4.2.1
“Requirements for Explicit Navigation in Faces Flow Call Nodes other than ViewNodes” to find a matching
<navigation-case>.
? If none of the above steps found a matching <navigation-case>, if ProjectStage is not Production
render a message in the page that explains that there was no match for this outcome.
A rule match always causes a new view to be created, losing the state of the old view. This includes clearing out the view
map.
Query string parameters may be contributed by three different sources: the outcome (implicit navigation), a nested
<f:param> on the component tag (e.g., <h:link>, <h:button>, <h:commandLink>, <h:commandButton>),
and view parameters. When a redirect URL is built, whether it be by the NavigationHandler on a redirect case or a
UIOutcomeTarget renderer, the query string parameter sources should be consulted in the following order:
? the outcome (implicit navigation)
? view parameter
? nested <f:param>
If a query string parameter is found in two or more sources, the latter source must replace all instances of the query
string parameter from the previous source(s).
[P1-end]
7.4.2.1 Requirements for Explicit Navigation in Faces Flow Call Nodes other than ViewNodes
[P1-start ExplicitNavigationNonViewFlowNode requirements] These steps must be performed in this order to determine
the vdl view identifier when navigating to a flow node that is not a view node.

Algorithm for resolving a nodeId to a vdl view identifier.
? If nodeId is a view node, let vdl view identifier be the value of nodeId and exit the algorithm.
? If the node is a SwitchNode, iterate over the NavigationCase instances returned from its getCases()
method. For each, one call getCondition(). If the result is true, let nodeId be the value of its fromOutcome
property.
? If the node is a MethodCallNode, let nodeId be the value invoking the value of its methodExpression
property. If the result is null, let nodeId be the value of the MethodCallNode’s outcome property.
? If the node is a FlowCallNode, save it aside as facesFlowCallNode. Let flowId be the value of its calledFlowId
property and flowDocumentId be the value of its calledFlowDocumentId property. If no flowDocumentId exists
for the node, let it be the string resulting from flowId + “/” + flowId + “.xhtml”. Ask the FlowHandler for a Flow
for this flowId, flowDocumentId pair. Obtain a reference to the start node and execute this algorithm again, on that
start node.
? If the node is a ReturnNode obtain its navigation case and call FlowHandler.pushReturnMode(). This
enables the navigation to proceed with respect to the calling flow’s navigation rules, or the application’s navigation
rules if there is no calling flow. Start the navigation algorithm over using it as the basis but pass the value of the
symbolic constant javax.faces.flow.FlowHandler.NULL_FLOW as the value of the toFlowDocumentId
argument. If this does not yield a navigation case, call FlowHandler.getLastDisplayedViewId(), which
will return the last displayed view id of the calling flow, or null if there is no such flow. In a finally block, when
the re-invocation of the navigation algorithms completes, call FlowHandler.popReturnMode().
7.4.2.2 Requirements for Entering a Flow

[P1-start FlowEntryRequirements] If any of the preceding navigation steps cause a flow to be entered, the
implementation must perform the following steps, in this order, before continuing with navigation.
? Make it so any @FlowScoped beans for this flow are able to be activated when an EL expression that references
them is evaluated.
? Call the initializer for the flow, if any.
? Proceed to the start node of the flow, which may be any flow node type.
An attempt to navigate into a flow other than via the identified start node of that throw should cause a
FacesException.
[P1-end]
7.4.2.3 Requirements for Exiting a Flow

[P1-start FlowExitRequirements] If any of the preceding navigation steps cause a flow to be exited, the implementation
must perform the following steps, in this order, before continuing with navigation.
? Call the finalizer for the flow, if any.
? De-activate any @FlowScoped beans for the current flow.
? If exiting via a return node ensure the return parameters are correctly passed back to the caller.
[P1-end]
7.4.2.4 Requirements for Calling A Flow from the Current Flow

[P1-start FlowExitRequirements] If any of the preceding navigation steps cause a flow to be called from another flow, the
transition() method on FlowHandler will ensure parameters are correctly passed.
[P1-end]

7.4.3 Example NavigationHandler Configuration
The following <navigation-rule> elements might appear in one or more application configuration resources (see
Section 11.4 “Application Configuration Resources”) to configure the behavior of the default NavigationHandler
implementation:
<navigation-rule>
<description>
APPLICATION WIDE NAVIGATION HANDLING
</description>
<from-view-id> * </from-view-id>
<navigation-case>
<description>
Assume there is a “Logout” button on every page that
invokes the logout Action.
</description>
<display-name>Generic Logout Button</display-name>
<from-action>#{userBean.logout}</from-action>
<to-view-id>/logout.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
<navigation-case>
<description>
Handle a generic error outcome that might be returned
by any application Action.
</description>
<display-name>Generic Error Outcome</display-name>
<from-outcome>loginRequired</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/must-login-first.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
<navigation-case>
<description>
Illustrate paramaters
</description>
<from-outcome>redirectPasswordStrength</from-outcome>
<redirect>
<view-param><name>userId</name><value>someValue</value>
</view-param>
<include-view-params>true</include-view-params>
</redirect>
</navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>

<navigation-rule>
<description>
LOGIN PAGE NAVIGATION HANDLING
</description>
<from-view-id> /login.jsp </from-view-id>
<navigation-case>
<description>
Handle case where login succeeded.
</description>
<display-name>Successful Login</display-name>
<from-action>#{userBean.login}</from-action>
<from-outcome>success</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/home.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
<navigation-case>
<description>
User registration for a new user succeeded.
</description>
<display-name>Successful New User Registration</display-name>
<from-action>#{userBean.register}</from-action>
<to-view-id>/welcome.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
<navigation-case>
<description>
User registration for a new user failed because of a
duplicate username.
</description>
<display-name>Failed New User Registration</display-name>
<from-action>#{userBean.register}</from-action>
<from-outcome>duplicateUserName</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/try-another-name.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>

<navigation-rule>
<description>
Assume there is a search form on every page. These navigation
cases get merged with the application-wide rules above because
they use the same “from-view-id” pattern. The same thing would
also happen if “from-view-id” was omitted here, because that is
equivalent to a matching pattern of “*”.
</description>
<from-view-id> * </from-view-id>
<navigation-case>
<display-name>Search Form Success</display-name>
<from-action>#{searchForm.go}</from-action>
<to-view-id>/search-results.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
<navigation-case>
<display-name>Search Form Failure</display-name>
<to-view-id>/search-problem.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>
<navigation-rule>
<description>
Searching works slightly differently in part of the site.
</description>
<from-view-id> /movies/* </from-view-id>
<navigation-case>
<display-name>Search Form Success</display-name>
<to-view-id>/movie-search-results.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
<navigation-case>
<display-name>Search Form Failure</display-name>
<to-view-id>/search-problem.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>

public void savePizza();
<navigation-rule>
<description>
Pizza topping selection navigation handling
</description>
<from-view-id>/selectToppings.xhtml</from-view-id>
<navigation-case>
<description>
Case where pizza is saved but there is additional cost
</description>
<display-name>Pizza saved w/ extras</display-name>
<from-action>#{pizzaBuilder.savePizza}</from-action>
<if>#{pizzaBuilder.additionalCost}</if>
<to-view-id>/approveExtras.xhtml</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
<navigation-case>
<description>
Case where pizza is saved and additional pizzas are needed
</description>
<display-name>
Pizza saved, additional pizzas needed
</display-name>
<if>#{not order.complete}</if>
<to-view-id>/createPizza.xhtml</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
<navigation-case>
<description>
Handle case where pizza is saved and order is complete
</description>
<display-name>Pizza complete</display-name>
<if>#{order.complete}</if>
<to-view-id>/cart.xhtml</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>

public String placeOrder();
<navigation-rule>
<description>
Cart navigation handling
</description>
<from-view-id>/cart.xhtml</from-view-id>
<navigation-case>
<description>
Handle case where account has one click delivery enabled
</description>
<display-name>Place order w/ one-click delivery</display-name>
<from-action>#{pizzaBuilder.placeOrder}</from-action>
<if>#{account.oneClickDelivery}</if>
<to-view-id>/confirmation.xhtml</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
<navigation-case>
<description>
Handle case where delivery information is required
</description>
<display-name>
Place order w/o one-click delivery
</display-name>
<from-action>#{pizzaBuilder.placeOrder}</from-action>
<if>#{not account.oneClickDelivery}</if>
<to-view-id>/delivery.xhtml</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>
7.5 FlowHandler
Any JSF application can be modeled as a directed graph where the nodes are views and the edges are transitions between
the views. Faces Flows introduces several other kinds of nodes to this directed graph, providing support for
encapsulating related views and edges together. Applications can be created as composites of modules of functionality,
with each module consisting of well defined entry and exit conditions, and the ability to share state among the nodes
within each module. This feature is heavily influenced by the design of ADF Task Flows in Oracle’s Fusion Middleware
and also by Spring Web Flow and Apache MyFaces CODI. The normative specification for this feature proceeds from
the Javadoc for the class javax.faces.flow.FlowHandler, and also from related requirements in Section 7.4
“NavigationHandler”. This section provides a non-normative usage example and walkthrough of feature so that all the
other parts of the specification that intersect with this feature can be discovered.

7.5.1 Non-normative example
Here is a simple example to introduce the feature. It does not touch on all aspects of the feature. The example has two
flows, each of which calls the other, passing parameters. Any view outside of a flow may navigate to either of the flows,
named flow-a and flow-b.
This diagram uses the following conventions.

? view nodes are boxes
? faces flow return nodes are circles
? faces flow call nodes are boxes with the corners chopped off
? @FlowScoped beans are rectangles semi-circular short sides
? the start node is marked “start”
? inbound and outbound parameters are listed by name
? arrows show valid traversals among the nodes.
These flows are identical, except for the names of their constituents, and each has the following properties.
? Three view nodes, one of which is the implicit start node
? One faces flow return node, each of which returns the outcome “return1”
? One flow call node, which calls the other flow, with two outbound parameters, named to match up with the other flow
? Two inbound parameters, named to match up with the other flow
The different kinds of nodes mentioned in the preceding discussion are defined in the javadoc for class
javax.faces.flow.FlowHandler.

Consider this simple web app, called basic_faces_flow_call.war, containing the above mentioned flows. The
file layout for of the app is shown next. The example is shown using maven war packaging
basic_faces_flow_call/
pom.xml
src/main/webapp/
index.xhtml
return1.xhtml
WEB-INF/beans.xml
flow-a/
flow-a.xhtml
next_a.xhtml
next_b.xhtml
flow-b/
flow-b-flow.xml
next_a.xhtml
next_b.xhtml
src/main/java/com/sun/faces/basic_faces_flow_call/
FlowA.java
Flow_a_Bean.java
Flow_b_Bean.java
To complete the example, the execution of the flows is examined. When the application containing these flows is
deployed, the runtime discovers the flow definitions and adds them to the internal flow data structure. One flow is
defined in flow-b-flow.xml. This is an XML file conforming to the Application Configuration Resources syntax
described in Section 11.4 “Application Configuration Resources”. The other flow is defined in FlowA.java, a class
with a method with the @FlowDefinition annotation. When the flow discovery is complete, an application scoped,
thread safe data structure containing the flow definitions is available from the javax.faces.flow.FlowHandler
singleton. This data structure is navigable by the runtime via the javax.faces.flow.Flow API.
When the user agent visits http://localhost:8080/basic_faces_flow_call/faces/index.xhtml, they

see a page with two buttons, the actions of which are flow-a, and flow-b, respectively. Clicking either button causes
entry to the corresponding flow. In this case, the user clicks the flow-a button. The @FlowScoped bean
Flow_a_Bean is instantiated by the container and navigation proceeds immediately to the start node, in this case
flow-a.xhtml. The user proceeds directly to click a button taking them to next_a.xhtml, and then to
next_b.xhtml. On that page there is a button whose action is callB. Clicking this button activates the
correspondingly named faces flow call node, which prepares the specified outbound parameters, de-activates
Flow_a_Bean and calls flow-b.
Upon entry to flow-b, the @FlowScoped bean Flow_b_Bean is instantiated by the container, the outbound
parameters from flow-a are matched up with corresponding inbound parameters on flow-b and navigation proceeds
immediately to the start node, in this case flow-b.xhtml. The user proceeds directly to click a button taking them to
next_a.xhtml, and then to next_b.xhtml. On that page there is a button whose action is taskFlowReturn1.
Clicking this button causes Flow_b_Bean to be deactivated and navigation to the view named return1 to be
performed.
7.5.2 Non-normative Feature Overview

The normative requirements of the feature are stated in the context of the part of the specification impacted. This section
gives the reader a non-normative overview of the feature that touches on all the parts of the specification that intersect
with this feature.
Startup Time
At startup time, the runtime will discover flows available for this application. This behavior is normatively specified in
Section 11.4.3 “Faces Flows” and in the XML schema for the application configuration resources.

Invoke Application Time
The default ActionListener may need to take special action when calling into a flow. This behavior is normatively
specified in Section 7.1.1 “ActionListener Property”.
The default NavigationHandler implementation must use the FlowHandler during its operation. This behavior is
normatively specified in Section 7.4.2 “Default NavigationHandler Algorithm”.
7.6 ViewHandler
ViewHandler is the pluggability mechanism for allowing implementations of or applications using the JavaServer
Faces specification to provide their own handling of the activities in the Render Response and Restore View phases of the
request processing lifecycle. This allows for implementations to support different response generation technologies, as
well as different state saving/restoring approaches.
A JSF implementation must provide a default implementation of the ViewHandler interface. See Section 7.1.8
“ViewHandler Property” for information on replacing this default implementation with another implementation.
7.6.1 Overview
ViewHandler defines the public APIs described in the following paragraphs
public Locale calculateLocale(FacesContext context);

public String calculateRenderKitId(FacesContext context);
These methods are called from createView() to allow the new view to determine the Locale to be used for all
subsequent requests, and to find out which renderKitId should be used for rendering the view.
public void initView(FacesContext) throws FacesException;

public String calculateCharacterEncoding(FacesContext context);
The initView() method must be called as the first method in the implementation of the Restore View Phase of the
request processing lifecycle, immediately after checking for the existence of the FacesContext parameter. See the
javadocs for this method for the specification..
public String deriveViewId(FacesContext context, String input);
The deriveViewId() method is an encapsulation of the viewId derivation algorithm in previous versions of the
specification. This method looks at the argument input, and the current request and derives the viewId upon which
the lifecycle will be run.
public UIViewRoot createView(FacesContext context, String viewId);
Create and return a new UIViewRoot instance, initialized with information from the specified FacesContext and
view identifier parameters.

If the view being requested is a Facelet view, the createView() method must ensure that the UIViewRoot is fully
populated with all the children defined in the VDL page before createView() returns.
public String getActionURL(FacesContext context, String viewId);
Returns a URL, suitable for encoding and rendering, that (if activated) will cause the JSF request processing lifecycle for
the specified viewId to be executed
public String getBookmarkableURL(FacesContext context, String

viewId, Map<String,List<String>> parameters, boolean
includeViewParams);
Return a JSF action URL derived from the viewId argument that is suitable to be used as the target of a link in a JSF
response. The URL, if activated, would cause the browser to issue an initial request to the specified viewId
public String getRedirectURL(FacesContext context, String viewId,

Map<String, List<String>> parameters, boolean includeViewParams);
Return a JSF action URL derived from the viewId argument that is suitable to be used by the NavigationHandler
to issue a redirect request to the URL using an initial request.
public String getResourceURL(FacesContext context, String path);
Returns a URL, suitable for encoding and rendering, that (if activated) will retrieve the specified web application
resource.
public void renderView(FacesContext context, UIViewRoot

viewToRender) throws IOException, FacesException;
This method must be called during the Render Response phase of the request processing lifecycle. It must provide a valid
ResponseWriter or ResponseStream instance, storing it in the FacesContext instance for the current request
(see Section 6.1.8 “ResponseStream and ResponseWriter”), and then perform whatever actions are required to cause the
view currently stored in the viewRoot of the FacesContext instance for the current request to be rendered to the
corresponding writer or stream. It must also interact with the associated StateManager (see Section 7.8
“StateManager”), by calling the getSerializedView() and saveView() methods, to ensure that state information
for current view is saved between requests.
public UIViewRoot restoreView(FacesContext context, String viewId)

throws IOException;
This method must be called from the Restore View phase of the request processing lifecycle. It must perform
whatever actions are required to restore the view associated with the specified FacesContext and viewId.
It is the caller’s responsibility to ensure that the returned UIViewRoot instance is stored in the FacesContext as the
new viewRoot property. In addition, if restoreView() returns null (because there is no saved state for this view
identifier), the caller must call createView(), and call renderResponse() on the FacesContext instance for
this request.
public void writeState(FacesContext context) throws IOException;

Take any appropriate action to either immediately write out the current view’s state information (by calling
StateManager.writeState()), or noting where state information may later be written. This method must be
called once per call to the encodeEnd() method of any renderer for a UIForm component, in order to provide the
ViewHandler an opportunity to cause saved state to be included with each submitted form.
public ViewDeclarationLanguage getViewDeclarationLanguage();
See the javadocs for this method for the specification.
public Set<String> getProtectedViewsUnmodifiable();

public void addProtectedView(String urlPattern);
public boolean removeProtectedView(String urlPattern)
See the javadocs for these methods for the specification.
7.6.2 Default ViewHandler Implementation

The terms view identifier and viewId are used interchangeably below and mean the context relative path to the web
application resource that produces the view, such as a JSP page or a Facelets page. In the JSP case, this is a context
relative path to the jsp page representing the view, such as /foo.jsp. In the Facelets case, this is a context relative path
to the XHTML page representing the view, such as /foo.xhtml.
JSF implementations must provide a default ViewHandler implementation, along with a default
ViewDeclarationLanguageFactory implementation that vends ViewDeclarationLanguage
implementations designed to support the rendering of JSP pages containing JSF components and Facelets pages
containing JSF components. The default ViewHandler is specified in this section and the default
ViewDeclarationLanguage implementations are specified in the following section.
7.6.2.1 ViewHandler Methods that Derive Information From the Incoming Request
[P1-start ViewHandler.deriveViewId() requirements] The deriveViewId() method must fulfill the following
responsibilities:
? If the argument input is null, return null.
? If prefix mapping (such as “/faces/*”) is used for FacesServlet, normalize the viewId according to the following
algorithm, or its semantic equivalent, and return it.
? Remove any number of occurrences of the prefix mapping from the viewId. For example, if the incoming value
was /faces/faces/faces/view.xhtml the result would be simply view.xhtml.
? If suffix mapping (such as “*.faces”) is used for FacesServlet, the viewId is set using following algorithm.
Let requestViewId be the value of argument input.
Consult the javadocs for ViewHandler.FACELETS_VIEW_MAPPINGS_PARAM_NAME and perform the steps
necessary to obtain a value for that param (or its alias as in the javadocs). Let this be faceletsViewMappings.
Obtain the value of the context initialization parameter named by the symbolic constant
ViewHandler.DEFAULT_SUFFIX_PARAM_NAME (if no such context initialization parameter is present, use the
value of the symbolic constant ViewHandler.DEFAULT_SUFFIX). Let this be jspDefaultSuffixes. For each entry
in the list from jspDefaultSuffixes, replace the suffix of requestViewId with the current entry from jspDefaultSuffixes.
For discussion, call this candidateViewId. For each entry in faceletsViewMappings, If the current entry is a prefix
mapping entry, skip it and continue to the next entry. If candidateViewId is exactly equal to the current entry, consider
the algorithm complete with the result being candidateViewId. If the current entry is a wild-card extension mapping,

apply it non-destructively to candidateViewId and look for a physical resource with that name. If present, consider the
algorithm complete with the result being the name of the physical resource. Otherwise look for a physical resource
with the name candidateViewId. If such a resource exists, consider the algorithm complete with the result being
candidateViewId. If there are no entries in faceletsViewMappings, look for a physical resource with the name
candidateViewId. If such a resource exists, candidateViewId is the correct viewId.
Otherwise, obtain the value of the context initialization parameter named by the symbolic constant
ViewHandler.FACELETS_SUFFIX_PARAM_NAME. (if no such context initialization parameter is present, use the
value of the symbolic constant ViewHandler.DEFAULT_FACELETS_SUFFIX). Let this be faceletsDefaultSuffix.
Replace the suffix of requestViewId with faceletsDefaultSuffix. For discussion, call this candidateViewId. If a physical
resource exists with that name, candidateViewId is the correct viewId.
Otherwise, if a physical resource exists with the name requestViewId let that value be viewId.
? If an exact mapping (such as /foo) is used for FacesServlet, the viewId is set using following algorithm.
? Let requestViewId be the value of the argument input.
? Obtain the value of the context initialization parameter named by the symbolic constant
ViewHandler.FACELETS_SUFFIX_PARAM_NAME. (if no such context initialization parameter is present, use
the value of the symbolic constant ViewHandler.DEFAULT_FACELETS_SUFFIX). Let this be
faceletsDefaultSuffix.
ViewHandler.DEFAULT_SUFFIX_PARAM_NAME (if no such context initialization parameter is present, use
the value of the symbolic constant ViewHandler.DEFAULT_SUFFIX). Let this be defaultSuffixes.
? Add faceletsDefaultSuffix to defaultSuffixes.
? For each entry in the list from defaultSuffixes, add that current entry to the end of requestViewId. For discussion,
call this candidateViewId. Look for a physical resource with the name candidateViewId. If such a resource exists,
consider the algorithm complete with the result being candidateViewId.
? Otherwise, if a physical resource exists with the name requestViewId let that value be viewId. Otherwise return
null.
? [P1-end]
The getViewDeclarationLanguage() must fulfill the following responsibilites.

? See the javadocs for the normative specification for this method.
[P1-start ViewHandler.deriveLogicalViewId() requirements] The deriveLogicalViewId() method is identical to

deriveViewId() except that it does not check for the existence of the resource. [P1-end]
[P1-start ViewHandler.calculateCharacterEncoding() requirements] The calculateCharacterEncoding() method

must fulfill the following responsibilities:
? Examine the Content-Type request header. If it has a charset parameter extract it and return it.
? If not, test for the existence of a session by calling getSession(false) on the ExternalContext for this
FacesContext. If the session is non-null, look in the Map returned by the getSessionMap() method of the
ExternalContext for a value under the key given by the value of the symbolic constant
javax.faces.application.ViewHandler.CHARACTER_ENCODING_KEY. If a value is found, convert it to
a String and return it. [P1-end]
[P1-start calculateLocale() requirements] The calculateLocale() method must fulfill the following responsibilities:
? Attempt to match one of the locales returned by the getLocales() method of the ExternalContext instance
for this request, against the supported locales for this application as defined in the application configuration resources.
Matching is performed by the algorithm described in Section JSTL.8.3.2 of the JSTL Specification. If a match is
found, return the corresponding Locale object.
? Otherwise, if the application has specified a default locale in the application configuration resources, return the
corresponding Locale object.
? Otherwise, return the value returned by calling Locale.getDefault().[P1-end]
[P1-start calculateRenderKitId() requirements] The calculateRenderKitId() method must fulfill the following
responsibilities:

? Return the value of the request parameter named by the symbolic constant
ResponseStateManager.RENDER_KIT_ID_PARAM if it is not null.
? Otherwise, return the value returned by Application.getDefaultRenderKitId() if it is not null.
? Otherwise, return the value specified by the symbolic constant
RenderKitFactory.HTML_BASIC_RENDER_KIT.
7.6.2.2 ViewHandler Methods that are Called to Fill a Specific Role in the Lifecycle
[P1-start createView() requirements] The createView() method must obtain a reference to the
ViewDeclarationLanguage for this viewId and call its ViewDeclarationLanguage.createView()
method, returning the result and not swallowing any exceptions thrown by that method.[P1-end]
[P1-start initView() requirements] The initView() method must fulfill the following responsibilities:
? See the javadocs for this method for the specification.[P1-end]
[P1-start renderView() requirements] The renderView() method must obtain a reference to the
ViewDeclarationLanguage for the viewId of the argument viewToRender and call its
ViewDeclarationLanguage.restoreView() method, returning the result and not swallowing any exceptions
thrown by that method.[P1-end]
[P1-start restoreView() requirements]The restoreView() method must obtain a reference to the

ViewDeclarationLanguage for the viewId of the argument viewToRender and call its
ViewDeclarationLanguage.restoreView() method, returning the result and not swallowing any exceptions
thrown by that method.[P1-end]
The writeState() method must fulfill the following responsibilities:

? Obtain the saved state stored in a thread-safe manner during the invocation of renderView() and pass it to the
writeState() method of the StateManager for this application. [N/T-end]
7.6.2.3 ViewHandler Methods Relating to Navigation

[P1-start getActionURL() requirements] The getActionURL() method must fulfill the following responsibilities:
? If the specified viewId does not start with a “/”, throw IllegalArgumentException.
? If exact mapping (such as /foo) is used for FacesServlet, the following algorithm must be followed to derive the
result.
? Retrieve the collection of existing mappings of the FacesServlet, e.g. using
ServletRegistration#getMappings(). Let this be facesServletMappings. If the argument viewId has
an extension, then obtain the value of the context initialization parameter named by the symbolic constant
ViewHandler.FACELETS_SUFFIX_PARAM_NAME. (if no such context initialization parameter is present, use
the value of the symbolic constant ViewHandler.DEFAULT_FACELETS_SUFFIX). Let this be
faceletsDefaultSuffix.
ViewHandler.DEFAULT_SUFFIX_PARAM_NAME (if no such context initialization parameter is present, use
the value of the symbolic constant ViewHandler.DEFAULT_SUFFIX). Let this be defaultSuffixes.
? Add faceletsDefaultSuffix to defaultSuffixes.
? For each entry in the list from defaultSuffixes, if the extension of the argument viewId is equal to this entry,
remove the extension from viewId. For discussion, call this candidateViewId.
? Look if the candidateViewId is present in facesServletMappings. If so,the result is contextPath +
candidateViewId.
? If the argument viewId has no extension, then look if the viewId is present in facesServletMappings. If so, the
result is contextPath + viewId.
? If no result has been obtained, pick any prefix mapping or extension mapping from facesServletMappings. If no
such mapping is found, throw an IllegalStateException.

? If such mapping is found remove the "*" character from that mapping, take that as the new mapping and continue
with evaluating this mapping as specified below for "if prefix mapping [...] is used" and for "if suffix mapping [...]
is used
?
? If prefix mapping (such as “/faces/*”) is used for FacesServlet, prepend the context path of the current
application, and the specified prefix, to the specified viewId and return the completed value. For example
“/cardemo/faces/chooseLocale.jsp”.
? If suffix mapping (such as “*.faces”) is used for FacesServlet, the following algorithm must be followed to
derive the result.
If the argument viewId has no extension, the result is contextPath + viewId + mapping, where
contextPath is the context path of the current application, viewId is the argument viewId and mapping is the
value of the mapping (such as “*.faces”).
If the argument viewId has an extension, and this extension is not mapping, the result is contextPath +
viewId.substring(0, period) + mapping.
If the argument viewId has an extension, and this extension is mapping, the result is contextPath + viewId.
For example “/cardemo/chooseLocale.faces”
? If the current view is one of the views to which view protection must be applied, the returned URL must contain the
parameter with a name equal to the value of the constant defined by
ResponseStateManager.NON_POSTBACK_VIEW_TOKEN_PARAM. The value of this parameter must be the
return value from a call to
ResponseStateManager.getCryptographicallyStrongTokenFromSession(). This parameter is
inspected during the restore view phase (see Section 2.2.1 “Restore View”).
[P1-end]
[P1-start getBookmarkableURL() requirements] The getBookmarkableURL() method must fulfill the following
responsibilities:
? If argument includeViewParams is true, obtain the view paramaters corresponding to the argument viewId
and append them to the Map given in argument parameters. Let the resultant Map be called paramsToEncode.
? If the viewId of the current FacesContext is not equal to the argument viewId, get the
ViewDeclarationLanguage for the argument viewId, obtain its ViewMetadata, call
createMetadataView() on it, then call ViewMetadata.getViewParameters() passing the return from
createMetadataView(). Let the result of this method be toViewParams.
? If the viewId of the current FacesContext is equal to the argument viewId, call
ViewMetadata.getViewParameters() passing the current UIViewRoot. Let the result of this method be
toViewParams.
? If toViewParams is empty, take no further action to add view parameters to this URL. Iterate over each
UIViewParameter element in toViewParams and take the following actions on each element.
? If the Map given by parameters has a key equal to the name property of the current element, take no action on
the current element and continue iterating.
? If the current UIViewParameter has a ValueExpression under the key “value” (without the quotes), let
value be the result of calling getStringValueFromModel() on the current UIViewParameter.
? Otherwise, if the current viewId is the same as the argument viewId, let value be the result of calling
getStringValue() on the current UIViewParameter.
? Otherwise, if the current viewId is different from the argument viewId, locate the UIViewParameter
instance in the current view whose name is equivalent to the current element and let value be the result of calling
getStringValue() on the located UIViewParameter.
? If the above steps yielded a non-null value, find the List<String> value in the parameters map under the
key given by the name property of the current UIViewParameter element. If such a List exists, add value to
it. Otherwise create a List<String>, add value to it, and add it to the parameters map under the appropriate
key.

? If argument includeViewParams is false, take no action to add additional entries to paramaters. Let
paramsToEncode be parameters.
? Call getActionURL() on the argument viewId. Let the result be actionEncodedViewId.
? Call encodeBookmarkableURL() on the current ExternalContext, passing actionEncodedViewId as the first
argument and paramsToEncode as the second. Let the result be bookmarkEncodedURL.
? Pass bookmarkEncodedURL to ExternalContext.encodeActionURL() and return the result.[P1-end]
[P1-start getRedirectURL() requirements] The getRedirectURL() method must fulfill the following responsibilities:
? Take exactly the same action as in getBookmarkableURL() up to and including the call to getActionURL().
Thereafter take the following actions.
? Call encodeRedirectURL() on the current ExternalContext, passing actionEncodedViewId as the first
argument and paramsToEncode as the second. Let the result be redirectEncodedURL.
? Pass redirectEncodedURL to ExternalContext.encodeActionURL() and return the result.[P1-end]
[P1-start getResourceURL() requirements] The getResourceURL() method must fulfill the following responsibilities:
? If the specified path starts with a “/”, prefix it with the context path for the current web application, and return the
result.
? Otherwise, return the specified path value unchanged.[P1-end]
7.6.2.4 ViewHandler Methods that relate to View Protection

? [P1-start addProtectedView() requirements] See the javadocs for addProtectedView() for the normative
specification. [P1-end]
? [P1-start removeProtectedView() requirements] See the javadocs for removeProtectedView() for the normative
specification. [P1-end]
? [P1-start getProtectedViewsUnmodifiable() requirements] See the javadocs for
getProtectedViewsUnmodifiable() for the normative specification. [P1-end]
See the View Protection section within Section 2.2.1 “Restore View”Section 2.2.1 “Restore View” for the normative
specification of this feature.
7.7 ViewDeclarationLanguage
To support the introduction of Facelets into the core specification, whilst preserving backwards compatibility with
existing JSP applications, the concept of the View Declaration Language was formally introduced in version 2 of the
specification. A View Declaration Language (VDL) is a syntax used to declare user interfaces comprised of instances of
JSF UIComponents. Under this definition, both JSP and Facelets are examples of an implementation of a VDL. Any of
the responsibilities of the ViewHandler that specifically deal with the VDL sub-system are now the domain of the
VDL implementation. These responsibilities are defined on the ViewDeclarationLanguage class.
7.7.1 ViewDeclarationLanguageFactory
ViewDeclarationLanguageFactory is a factory object that creates (if needed) and returns a new
ViewDeclarationLanguage instance based on the VDL found in a specific view.

The factory mechanism specified in Section 11.2.6.1 “FactoryFinder” and the decoration mechanism specified in
Section 11.4.7 “Delegating Implementation Support” are used to allow decoration or replacement of the
ViewDeclarationLanguageFactory.
public ViewDeclarationLanguage getViewDeclarationLanguage(String

viewId)
Return the ViewDeclarationLanguage instance suitable for handling the VDL contained in the page referenced by
the argument viewId. [P1-start_required_ViewDeclarationLanguageImpls]The default implementation must return a valid
ViewDeclarationLanguage instance for views written in either JSP or Facelets. [P1-
end_required_ViewDeclarationLanguageImpls]Whether the instance returned is the same for a JSP or a Facelet view is
an implementation detail.
7.7.2 Default ViewDeclarationLanguage Implementation

For each of the methods on ViewDeclarationLanguage, the required behavior is broken into three segments:
? Behavior required of all compliant implementations
? Behavior required of the implementation that handles Facelet views
? Behavior required of the implementation that handles JSP views
Any implementation strategy is valid as long as these requirements are met.
7.7.2.1 ViewDeclarationLanguage.createView()
public UIViewRoot createView(FacesContext context, String viewId)
[P1-start createView() requirements] The createView() method must fulfill the following responsibilities.
All implementations must:
? If there is an existing UIViewRoot available on the FacesContext, this method must copy its locale and
renderKitId to this new view root. If not, this method must call calculateLocale() and
calculateRenderKitId(), and store the results as the values of the locale and renderKitId, properties,
respectively, of the newly created UIViewRoot.
? If no viewId could be identified, or the viewId is exactly equal to the servlet mapping, send the response error
code SC_NOT_FOUND with a suitable message to the client.
? Create a new UIViewRoot object instance using
Application.createComponent(UIViewRoot.COMPONENT_TYPE).
? Pass the argument viewId to the setViewId() method on the new UIViewRoot instance.
? The new UIViewRoot instance must be passed to FacesContext.setViewRoot(). This enables the
broadest possible range of implementations for how tree creation is actually implemented.
The JSP and implementation is not required to take any additional action.
The Facelet implementation must call calculateResourceLibraryContracts(), passing the argument
viewId, and unconditionally set the result as the resourceLibraryContracts property on the
FacesContext. The implementation must obtain the ViewDeclarationLanguage reference on which to
invoke calculateResourceLibraryContracts() from the ViewHandler. This ensures the methods can be
correctly decorated.
? Return the newly created UIViewRoot.
[P1-end]

7.7.2.2 ViewDeclarationLanguage.calculateResourceLibraryContracts()
public List<String>
calculateResourceLibraryContracts(FacesContext context, viewId)
The JSP implementation must return null.
The Facelet implementation must examine the resource library contracts data structure, which was populated as specified
in Section 11.4.2.1 “Resource Library Contracts”, and find the <contract-mapping> element that matches the
argument viewId. When processing the nested <url-pattern> matches must be made using the following rules in
this order.
1. An exact match.
2. The longest match
3. The value * matches all incoming viewIds
The value returned from this method is the list whose contents are taken from the contracts attribute of the matching
<contract-mapping> element.
7.7.2.3 ViewDeclarationLanguage.buildView()
public void buildView(FacesContext context, UIComponent root)
[P1-start buildView() requirements] The buildView() method must fulfill the following responsibilities.
? The implementation must guarantee that the page is executed in such a way that the UIComponent tree described
in the VDL page is completely built and populated, rooted at the new UIViewRoot instance created previously.
? The runtime must guarantee that the view must be fully populated before the afterPhase() method of any
PhaseListeners attached to the application or to the UIViewRoot (via
UIViewRoot.setAfterPhaseListener() or UIViewRoot.addPhaseListener()) are called.
The Facelets implementation must guarantee the markup comprising the view is executed with the UIComponent
instances in the view being encountered in the same depth-first order as in other lifecycle methods defined on
UIComponent, and added to the view (but not rendered at this time), during the traversal. .
[P1-end]
7.7.2.4 ViewDeclarationLanguage.getComponentMetadata()
public BeanInfo getComponentMetadata(FacesContext context,

[P1-start getComponentMetaData() requirements] The getComponentMetadata() method must fulfill the

following responsibilities:
? Return a reference to the component metadata for the composite component represented by the argument
componentResource, or null if the metadata cannot be found. The implementation may share and pool what
it ends up returning from this method to improve performance.
The Facelets implementation must

? Support argument componentResource being a Facelet markup file that is to be interpreted as a composite
component as specified in Section 3.6.2.1 “Composite Component Metadata”.
The JSP implementation is not required to support argument componentResource being a JSP markup file. In this
case, null must be returned from this method.[P1-end]
7.7.2.5 ViewDeclarationLanguage.getViewMetadata() and getViewParameters()
public ViewMetadata getViewMetadata(FacesContext context, String

viewId)
[P1-start getViewtMetaData() requirements] The getViewMetadata() method must fulfill the following
responsibilities:
? Return a reference to the view metadata for the view represented by the argument viewId, or null if the
metadata cannot be found. The implementation may share and pool what it ends up returning from this method to
improve performance.
The Facelets implementation must support argument viewId being a Facelet markup file from which the view
metadata should be extracted.
The JSP implementation is not required to support argument viewId being a JSP markup file. In this case, null
must be returned from this method.[P1-end]
ViewMetadata Contract
public UIViewRoot createMetadataView()
The content of the metadata is provided by the page author as a special <f:facet/> of the UIViewRoot. The
name of this facet is given by the value of the symbolic constant UIViewRoot.METADATA_FACET_NAME. The
UIViewRoot return from this method must have that facet, and its children as its only children. This facet may
contain <f:viewParameter> or <f:viewAction> children. Each such element is the metadata will cause a
UIViewParameter or UIViewAction (respectively) to be added to the view. Because UIViewParameter
extends UIInput it is valid to attach any of the kinds of attached objects to an <f:viewParameter> that are
valid for any element that represents any other kind of UIInput in the view. Because UIViewAction implements
ActionSource2, it is valid to attach any of the kinds of attached objects to an <f:viewAction> that are valid
for any element that represents any other kind of ActionSource2 in the view.
]
public Collection<UIViewParameter> getViewParameters(UIViewRoot)
Convenience method that uses the view metadata specification above to obtain the List<UIViewParameter> for the
argument viewId.

7.7.2.6 ViewDeclarationLanguage.getScriptComponentResource()
public Resource getScriptComponentResource(FacesContext context,

[P1-start getScriptComponentResource() requirements] The getScriptComponentResource() method must

fulfill the following responsibilities:
The Facelets implementation must:
? Take implementation specific action to discover a Resource given the argument componentResource. The
returned Resource if non-null, must point to a script file that can be turned into something that extends
UIComponent and implements NamingContainer.
The JSP implementation is not required to support this method. In this case, null must be returned from this
method.[P1-end]
7.7.2.7 ViewDeclarationLanguage.renderView()
public void renderView(FacesContext context, String viewId)
[P1-start renderView() requirements] The renderView() method must fulfill the following responsibilities:
? Return immediately if calling isRendered() on the argument UIViewRoot returns false.
The JSP implementation must:
? If the current request is a ServletRequest, call the set() method of the
javax.servlet.jsp.jstl.core.Config class, passing the current ServletRequest, the symbolic
constant Config.FMT_LOCALE, and the locale property of the specfied UIViewRoot. This configures JSTL
with the application’s preferred locale for rendering this response.
? Update the JSTL locale attribute in request scope so that JSTL picks up the new locale from the UIViewRoot.
This attribute must be updated before the JSTL setBundle tag is called because that is when the new
LocalizationContext object is created based on the locale.
? Create a wrapper around the current response from the ExternalContext and set it as the new response in the
ExternalContext. Otherwise, omit this step. This wrapper must buffer all content written to the response so
that it is ready for output at a later point. This is necessary to allow any content appearing after the <f:view> tag
to appear in the proper position in the page.
? Execute the JSP page to build the view by treating the viewId as a context-relative path (starting with a slash
character), by passing it to the dispatch() method of the ExternalContext associated with this request.
Otherwise, continue to the next step. This causes control to pass to the JSP container, and then to
UIComponentClassicTagBase. Please consult the javadocs for that class for the specification of how to
handle building the view by executing the JSP page.
? Store the wrapped response in a thread-safe manner for use below. Otherwise, omit this step. The default
implementation uses the request scope for this purpose.
? Restore the original response into the ExternalContext.
? If the FacesContext has a non-null ResponseWriter create a new writer using its
cloneWithWriter() method, passing the response’s Writer as the argument. Otherwise, use the current
RenderKit to create a new ResponseWriter.
? Set the new ResponseWriter into the FacesContext, saving the old one aside.

? Call saveView() on the StateManager for this application, saving the result in a thread-safe manner for use
in the writeState() method of ViewHandler.
? Call startDocument() on the ResponseWriter.
? Call encodeAll() on the UIViewRoot.
? Output any content in the wrapped response from above to the response, removing the wrapped response from the
thread-safe storage.
? Call endDocument() on the ResponseWriter.
? If the old ResponseWriter was not null, place the old ResponseWriter back into the FacesContext.
The Facelets implementation must
? Close the writer used to write the response.[P1-end]
7.7.2.8 ViewDeclarationLanguage.restoreView()
public UIViewRoot restoreView(FacesContext context, String viewId)
[P1-start restoreView() requirements]The restoreView() method must fulfill the following responsibilities:
? If no viewId could be identified, return null.
? Call the restoreView() method of the associated StateManager, passing the FacesContext instance for
the current request and the calculated viewId, and return the returned UIViewRoot, which may be null.
? Call ResponseStateManager.isStateless(). If the result is false, proceed as specified in the JSP
implementation. Otherwise, take the following steps and return.
? Obtain a reference to the ViewDeclarationLanguage from the ViewDeclarationLanguageFactory.
This is necessary to allow for proper decoration. It is not acceptable to simply use the java language this
keyword.
? Call createView() on the ViewDeclarationLanguage instance, passing the context and viewId
arguments. Let viewRoot be the result.
? Call FacesContext.setViewRoot(viewRoot).
? Call buildView() on the ViewDeclarationLanguage, passing the context and viewRoot.
? Return the viewRoot.
[P1-end]
7.8 StateManager
StateManager directs the process of saving and restoring the view between requests. The StateManager instance
for an application is retrieved from the Application instance, and therefore cannot know any details of the markup
language created by the RenderKit being used to render a view. Therefore, the StateManager utilizes a helper

object (see Section 8.4 “ResponseStateManager”), that is provided by the RenderKit implementation, and is therefore
aware of the markup language details. The JSF implementation must provide a default StateManager implementation
that supports the behavior described below.
7.8.1 Overview
Conceptually, the state of a view can be divided into two pieces:
? Tree Structure. This includes component parent-child relationships, including facets.
? Component State. This includes:
? Component attributes and properties, and
? Validators, Converters, FacesListeners, and other objects attached to a component. The manner in
which these attached objects are saved is up to the component implementation. For attached objects that may have
state, the StateHolder interface (see Section 3.2.4 “StateHolder”) is provided to allow these objects to preserve
their own attributes and properties. If an attached object does not implement StateHolder, but does implement
Serializable, it is saved using standard serialization. Attached objects that do not implement either
StateHolder or Serializable must have a public, zero-arg constructor, and will be restored only to their
initial, default object state6.
It is beneficial to think of this separation between tree structure and tree state to allow the possibility that
implementations can use a different mechanism for persisting the structure than is used to persist the state. For
example, in a system where the tree structure is stored statically, as an XML file, for example, the system could keep
a DOM representation of the trees representing the webapp UI in memory, to be used by all requests to the
application.
7.8.1.1 Stateless Views

Version 2.2 of the specification adds support for stateless views. In such a view, the UIComponent state for the
components is not saved. This feature must be used with full awareness of the statefulness requirements of the
components in the view. If a component requires state to operate correctly, it must not be used in a stateless view.
Furthermore, it is not required that @ViewScoped managed beans work at all with stateless views. This feature only
works with Facelet based views, not JSP based views.
To mark a view as stateless, the existing transient property from UIComponent is exposed to the view author by
means of the transient attribute on the <f:view> tag from the Faces Core tag library. The following spec sections
contain more normative requirements for stateless views.
? The vdldocs for the Facelet variant of the <f:view> tag.
? The javadocs for ResponseStateManager.writeState(FacesContext, Object)
? The javadocs for ResponseStateManager.isStateless(FacesContext)
? Section 7.7.2.8 “ViewDeclarationLanguage.restoreView()”
? The javadocs for javax.faces.view.ViewScoped
? The javadocs for javax.faces.bean.ViewScoped
7.8.2 State Saving Alternatives and Implications

JSF implementations support two primary mechanisms for saving state, based on the value of the
javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD initialization parameter (see Section 11.1.3 “Application Configuration
Parameters”). The possible values for this parameter give a general indication of the approach to be used, while allowing
JSF implementations to innovate on the technical details:
6. The implementation classes for attached object must include a public zero-arguments constructor.

? client -- Cause the saved state to be included in the rendered markup that is sent to the client (such as in a hidden
input field for HTML). The state information must be included in the subsequent request, making it possible for JSF
to restore the view without having saved information on the server side. It is advisable that this information be
encrypted and tamper evident, since it is being sent down to the client, where it may persist for some time.The default
implementation Serializes the view in client mode.
? server -- Cause the saved state to be stored on the server in between requests. Implementations that wish to enable
their saved state to fail over to a different container instance must keep this in mind when implementing their server
side state saving strategy. Serializing the view in server mode is optional but must be possible by setting the
context-param javax.faces.SERIALIZE_SERVER_STATE to true. In the server mode, this serialized
view is stored in the session and a unique key to retrieve the view is sent down to the client. By storing the serialized
view in the session, failover may happen using the usual mechanisms provided by the container.
Serializable in the preceding text means the values of all component attributes and properties (as well as the saved state
of attached objects) must implement java.io.Serializable such that if the aggregate saved state were written to
an ObjectOutputStream, a NotSerializableException would not be thrown.
7.8.3 State Saving Methods.

public Object saveView(FacesContext context);
[P1-start saveView() requirements] This method causes the tree structure and component state of the view contained in
the argument FacesContext to be collected, stored, and returned in a java.lang.Object instance that must
implement java.io.Serializable. If null is returned from this method, there is no state to save.[P1-end]
The returned object must represent the entire state of the view, such that a request processing lifecycle can be run against
it on postback. Special care must be taken to guarantee that objects attached to component instances, such as listeners,
converters, and validators, are also saved. The StateHolder interface is provided for this reason.
This method must also enforce the rule that component ids within a NamingContainer must be unique
public void writeState(FacesContext context, Object state) throws

IOException;
Save the state represented in the specified Object instance, in an implementation dependent manner.
7.8.4 State Restoring Methods

public UIViewRoot restoreView(FacesContext context, String
viewId);
Restore the tree structure and the component state of the view for this viewId to be restored, in an implementation
dependent manner. If there is no saved state information available for this viewId, this method returns null.
The default implementation of this method calls through to restoreTreeStructure() and, if necessary
restoreComponentState().

7.8.5 Convenience Methods
public boolean isSavingStateInClient(FacesContext context);
[P1-start isSavingStateInClient() requirements] Return true if and only if the value of the ServletContext init
parameter named by the value of the constant StateManager.STATE_SAVING_METHOD_PARAM_NAME is equal to
the value of the constant STATE_SAVING_METHOD_CLIENT. Return false otherwise. [P1-end]
public String getViewState(FacesContext context);
Return the current view state as a String. [P1-start-getViewState] This method must call
ResposeStateManger.getViewState.[P1-end] Refer to Section 8.4 “ResponseStateManager” for more details.
7.9 ResourceHandler
The normative specification for this class is in the javadoc for javax.faces.application.ResourceHandler.
See also Section 2.6 “Resource Handling”.
public ResourceHandler getResourceHandler();
public void setResourceHandler(ResourceHandler impl);
7.10 Deprecated APIs
7.10.1 PropertyResolver Property

public PropertyResolver getPropertyResolver();
[deprecated]
public void setPropertyResolver(PropertyResolver resolver);

[deprecated]
[N/T-start getPropertyResolver() requirements] getPropertyResolver() must return a PropertyResolver

instance that wraps the ELResolver instance that Faces provides to the unified EL. [N/T-end] The
PropertyResolver instance will be utilized to evaluate each . or [] operator when processing value expressions. This
method has been deprecated for getELResolver() (see Section 7.1.6 “ELResolver Property”).
setPropertyResolver() replaces the PropertyResolver instance that will be utilized to evaluate each . or []
operator when processing a value binding expression. A default implementation must be provided, which operates as
described in Section 5.8.2 “PropertyResolver and the Default PropertyResolver”. This method has been deprecated. See
the Javadocs for setPropertyResolver().

7.10.2 VariableResolver Property
public VariableResolver getVariableResolver();
[deprecated]
public void setVariableResolver(VariableResolver resolver);

[deprecated]
[N/T-start getVariableResolver() requirements] getVariableResolver() must return the VariableResolver that

wraps the ELResolver instance that Faces provides to the unified EL. The VariableResolver instance will be
utilized to convert the first name in a value expression into a corresponding object. The implementation must pass null
as the base argument for any methods invoked on the underlying ELResolver. This method has been deprecated for
getELResolver(). [N/T-end]
setVariableResolver replaces the VariableResolver instance that will be utilized to resolve method and value
bindings. A default implementation must be provided, which operates as described in Section 5.8.1 “VariableResolver
and the Default VariableResolver”. The method has been deprecated. See the Javadocs for setVariableResolver().
7.10.3 Acquiring ValueBinding Instances

public ValueBinding createValueBinding(String ref);
[deprecated]
Create and return a ValueBinding that can be used to evaluate the specified value binding expression. Call through to
createValueExpression, passing the argument ref, Object.class for the expectedType, and null for the
fnMapper. To avoid nondeterministic behavior, it is recommended that applications (or frameworks) wishing to plug
in their own resolver implementations do so before createValueBinding() is called for the first time. This method
has been deprecated for createValueExpression() (Section 7.1.11 “Programmatically Evaluating Expressions”
7.10.4 Acquiring MethodBinding Instances

public MethodBinding createMethodBinding(String ref, Class
params[]);
[deprecated]
Create and return a MethodBinding that can be used to evaluate the specified method binding expression, and invoke
the specified method. The implementation must call through to createMethodExpression, passing the given
arguments, and wrap the result in a MethodBinding implementation, returning it. The method that is invoked must
have parameter signatures that are compatible with the classes in the params parameter7 (which may be null or a
zero-length array if the method to be called takes no parameters). The actual parameters to be passed when the method
is executed are specified on the invoke() call of the returned MethodBinding instance.
To avoid nondeterministic behavior, it is recommended that applications (or frameworks) wishing to plug in their own
resolver implementations do so before calling createMethodBinding() for the first time. This method has been
deprecated.
7. The actual Method selected for execution must be selected as if by calling Class.getMethod() and passing the method name and the parameters signature
specified in the createMethodBinding() call.

7.10.5 Object Factories
public UIComponent createComponent(ValueBinding componentBinding,
FacesContext context, String componentType);
[deprecated]
Special version of the factory for UIComponent instances that is used when evaluating component binding expression
properties. The implementation of this method must wrap the argument componentBinding in an implementation of
ValueExpression and call through to createComponent(javax.el.ValueExpression,
javax.faces.FacesContext, java.lang.String). This method has been deprecated for
createComponent() using ValueExpression (see Section 7.1.12 “Object Factories”)
7.10.6 StateManager
This method causes the tree structure and component state of the view contained in the argument FacesContext to be
collected, stored, and returned in a StateManager.SerializedView instance. If null is returned from this
method, there is no state to save.
public void writeState(FacesContext context,

StateManager.SerializedView state) throws IOException;
[deprecated]
Save the state represented in the specified SerializedView instance, in an implementation dependent manner.
protected Object getTreeStructureToSave(FacesContext context);

[deprecated]
This method must create a Serializable object that represents the tree structure of the component tree for this view.
Tree structure is comprised of parent-child relationships, including facets. The id of each component and facet must also
be saved to allow the naming containers in the tree to be correctly restored when this view is restored.
protected Object getComponentStateToSave(FacesContext context);

[deprecated]
This method must create a Serializable object representing the component state (attributes, properties, and attached
objects) of the component tree for this view. Attached objects that wish to save and restore their own state must
implement StateHolder.
7.10.7 ResponseStateManager
This method causes the tree structure and component state of the view contained in the argument FacesContext to be
collected, stored, and returned in a StateManager.SerializedView instance. If null is returned from this
method, there is no state to save.

public void writeState(FacesContext context,

StateManager.SerializedView state) throws IOException;
[deprecated]
Save the state represented in the specified SerializedView instance, in an implementation dependent manner.
protected Object getTreeStructureToRestore(FacesContext context,

String viewId);
[deprecated]
The implementation must inspect the current request and return the tree structure Object passed to it on a previous
invocation of writeState()..
protected Object getComponentStateToRestore(FacesContext context,

String viewId);
[deprecated]
The implementation must inspect the current request and return the component state Object passed to it on a previous
invocation of writeState().

8
Rendering Model
JavaServer Faces supports two programming models for decoding component values from incoming requests, and
encoding component values into outgoing responses - the direct implementation and delegated implementation models.
When the direct implementation model is utilized, components must decode and encode themselves. When the delegated
implementation programming model is utilized, these operations are delegated to a Renderer instance associated (via
the rendererType property) with the component. This allows applications to deal with components in a manner that
is predominantly independent of how the component will appear to the user, while allowing a simple operation (selection
of a particular RenderKit) to customize the decoding and encoding for a particular client device or localized
application user.
Component writers, application developers, tool providers, and JSF implementations will often provide one or more
RenderKit implementations (along with a corresponding library of Renderer instances). In many cases, these classes
will be provided along with the UIComponent classes for the components supported by the RenderKit. Page authors
will generally deal with RenderKits indirectly, because they are only responsible for selecting a render kit identifier to
be associated with a particular page, and a rendererType property for each UIComponent that is used to select the
corresponding Renderer.
8.1 RenderKit
A RenderKit instance is optionally associated with a view, and supports components using the delegated
implementation programming model for the decoding and encoding of component values. It also supports Behavior
instances for the rendering of client side behavior and decoding for queuing BehaviorEvents. Refer to Section 3.7
“Component Behavior Model” for more details about this feature. [P1-start-renderkit]Each JSF implementation must
provide a default RenderKit instance (named by the render kit identifier associated with the String constant
RenderKitFactory.HTML_BASIC_RENDER_KIT as described below) that is utilized if no other RenderKit is
selected.[P1-end]
public Renderer getRenderer(String family, String rendererType);
Return the Renderer instance corresponding to the specified component family and rendererType (if any),
which will typically be the value of the rendererType property of a UIComponent about to be decoded or encoded
public ClientBehaviorRenderer getClientBehaviorRenderer(String

type);
Return the ClientBehaviorRenderer instance corresponding to the specified behavior type.
public void addRenderer(String family, String rendererType,

Renderer renderer);
Chapter 8 Rendering Model 8-1

public void addClientBehaviorRenderer(String type,
ClientBehaviorRenderer renderer);
public Iterator<String> getClientBehaviorRendererTypes();
Applications that wish to go beyond the capabilities of the standard RenderKit that is provided by every JSF
implementation may either choose to create their own RenderKit instances and register them with the
RenderKitFactory instance (see Section 8.5 “RenderKitFactory”), or integrate additional (or replacement) supported
Renderer instances into an existing RenderKit instance. For example, it will be common for an application that
requires custom component classes and Renderers to register them with the standard RenderKit provided by the JSF
implementation, at application startup time See Section 11.4.9 “Example Application Configuration Resource”for an
example of a faces-config.xml configuration resource that defines two additional Renderer instances to be
registered in the default RenderKit.
public ResponseWriter createResponseWriter(Writer writer, String

contentTypeList, String characterEncoding);
Use the provided Writer to create a new ResponseWriter instance for the specified character encoding.
The contentTypeList parameter is an "Accept header style" list of content types for this response, or null if the
RenderKit should choose the best fit. [P1-start-contentTypeList]The RenderKit must support a value for the
contentTypeList argument that comes straight from the Accept HTTP header, and therefore requires parsing
according to the specification of the Accept header.[P1-end] Please see Section 14.1 of RFC 2616 (the HTTP 1.1 RFC)
for the specification of the Accept header.
Implementors are advised to consult the getCharacterEncoding() method of class

javax.faces.servlet.ServletResponse to get the required value for the characterEncoding parameter for this
method. Since the Writer for this response will already have been obtained (due to it ultimately being passed to this
method), we know that the character encoding cannot change during the rendering of the response. Please see Section 6.5
“ResponseWriter”
public ResponseStream createResponseStream(OuputStream out);
Use the provided OutputStream to create a new ResponseStream instance.
public ResponseStateManager getResponseStateManager();
Return an instance of ResponseStateManager to handle rendering technology specific state management decisions..
public Iterator<String> getComponentFamilies();

public Iterator<String> getRendererTypes(String componentFamily);
The first method returns an Iterator over the component-family entries supported by this RenderKit. The
second one can be used to get an Iterator over the renderer-type entries for each of the component-family
entries returned from the first method.

8.2 Renderer
A Renderer instance implements the decoding and encoding functionality of components, during the Apply Request
Values and Render Response phases of the request processing lifecycle, when the component has a non-null value for
the rendererType property.
public void decode(FacesContext context, UIComponent component);
For components utilizing the delegated implementation programming model, this method will be called during the apply
request values phase of the request processing lifecycle, for the purpose of converting the incoming request information
for this component back into a new local value. See the API reference for the Renderer.decode() method for details
on its responsibilities.
public void encodeBegin(FacesContext context, UIComponent

component) throws IOException;
public void encodeChildren(FacesContext context, UIComponent

component) throws IOException;
public void encodeEnd(FacesContext context, UIComponent component)

throws IOException;
For components utilizing the delegated implementation programming model, these methods will be called during the
Render Response phase of the request processing lifecycle. These methods have the same responsibilities as the
corresponding encodeBegin(), encodeChildren(), and encodeEnd() methods of UIComponent (described
in Section 3.1.13 “Component Specialization Methods” and the corresponding Javadocs) when the component
implements the direct implementation programming model.
public String convertClientId(FacesContext context, String

clientId);
Converts a component-generated client identifier into one suitable for transmission to the client.
public boolean getRendersChildren();
Return a flag indicating whether this Renderer is responsible for rendering the children of the component it is asked to
render.
public Object getConvertedValue(FacesContext context,

UIComponent component, Object submittedValue) throws
ConverterException;
Attempt to convert previously stored state information into an object of the type required for this component (optionally
using the registered Converter for this component, if there is one). If conversion is successful, the new value should
be returned from this method; if not, a ConverterException should be thrown.
A Renderer may listen for events using the ListenerFor annotation. Refer to the Javadocs for the
ListenerFor class for more details.

8.3 ClientBehaviorRenderer
A ClientBehaviorRenderer instance produces client side behavior for components in the form of script content. It
also participates in decoding and as such has the ability to enqueue server side BehaviorEvents...
public String getScript(ClientBehaviorContext behaviorContext,

ClientBehavior behavior);
Produce the script content that performs the client side behavior. This method is called during the
Render Response phase of the request processing lifecycle.
public void decode(FacesContext context, UIComponent component,

ClientBehavior behavior);
This method will be called during the apply request values phase of the request processing lifecycle, for the primary
purpose of enqueuing BehaviorEvents. All client behavior renderer implementations must extend from the
ClientBehaviorRenderer interface.
8.3.1 ClientBehaviorRenderer Registration

ClientBehaviorRenderer implementations may be registered in the JSF faces-config.xml or with an annotation.
XML Registration
<render-kit>
<render-kit-id>HTML_BASIC</render-kit-id>
<client-behavior-renderer>
<client-behavior-renderer-type>custom.behavior.Greet</client-
behavior-renderer-type>
<client-behavior-renderer-class>greet.GreetRenderer</client-
behavior-renderer-class>
</client-behavior-renderer>
...
Registration By Annotation
JSF provides the javax.faces.render.FacesBehaviorRenderer annotation.
@FacesClientBehaviorRenderer(value=”Hello”)
public class MyRenderer extends ClientBehaviorRenderer {
...
}

8.4 ResponseStateManager
ResponseStateManager is the helper class to javax.faces.application.StateManager that knows the
specific rendering technology being used to generate the response. It is a singleton abstract class. This class knows the
mechanics of saving state, whether it be in hidden fields, session, or some combination of the two.
public Object getState(FacesContext context);
Please see the javadoc for this method for the normative specification.
public void writeState(FacesContext context, Object state) throws

IOException;
Please see the javadoc for this method for the normative specification.
public boolean isPostback(FacesContext context);
Return true if the current request is a postback. The default implementation returns true if this
ResponseStateManager instance wrote out state on a previous request to which this request is a postback. Return
false otherwise.
Please see Section 7.10.7 “ResponseStateManager” for deprecated methods in ResponseStateManager.
public String getViewState(FacesContext context);
Return the view state as a String without any markup related to the rendering technology supported by this
ResponseStateManager.
8.5 RenderKitFactory
[P1-start-renderkitFactory]A single instance of javax.faces.render.RenderKitFactory must be made
available to each JSF-based web application running in a servlet or portlet container.[P1-end] The factory instance can be
acquired by JSF implementations, or by application code, by executing
RenderKitFactory factory = (RenderKitFactory)

FactoryFinder.getFactory(FactoryFinder.RENDER_KIT_FACTORY);
The RenderKitFactory implementation class supports the following methods:
public RenderKit getRenderKit(FacesContext context, String

renderKitId);

Return a RenderKit instance for the specified render kit identifier, possibly customized based on the dynamic
characteristics of the specified, (yet possibly null) FacesContext. For example, an implementation might choose a
different RenderKit based on the “User-Agent” header included in the request, or the Locale that has been
established for the response view. Note that applications which depend on this feature are not guaranteed to be portable
across JSF implementations.
[P1-start-renderkitDefault]Every JSF implementation must provide a RenderKit instance for a default render kit
identifier that is designated by the String constant RenderKitFactory.HTML_BASIC_RENDER_KIT.[P1-end]
Additional render kit identifiers, and corresponding instances, can also be made available.
public Iterator<String> getRenderKitIds();
This method returns an Iterator over the set of render kit identifiers supported by this factory. [P1-start-
renderkitIds]This set must include the value specified by RenderKitFactory.HTML_BASIC_RENDER_KIT.[P1-
public void addRenderKit(String renderKitId, RenderKit renderKit);
end]
Register a RenderKit instance for the specified render kit identifier, replacing any previous RenderKit registered for
that identifier.
8.6 Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation

To ensure application portability, all JSF implementations are required to include support for a RenderKit, and the
associated Renderers, that meet the requirements defined in this section, to generate textual markup that is compatible
with HTML 4.01. JSF implementors, and other parties, may also provide additional RenderKit libraries, or additional
Renderers that are added to the standard RenderKit at application startup time, but applications must ensure that the
standard Renderers are made available for the web application to utilize them.
The required behavior of the standard HTML RenderKit is specified in a set of external HTML pages that accompany
this specification, entitled “The Standard HTML RenderKit”. The behavior described in these pages is normative, and are
required to be fulfilled by all implementations of JSF.
8.7 The Concrete HTML Component Classes

For each valid combination of UIComponent subclass and standard renderer given in the previous section, there is a
concrete class in the package javax.faces.component.html package. Each class in this package is a subclass of
an corresponding class in the javax.faces.component package, and adds strongly typed JavaBeans properties for

all of the renderer-dependent properties. These classes also implement the BehaviorHolder interface, enabling them
to have Behavior attached to them. Refer to Section 3.7 “Component Behavior Model” for additional
details..
TABLE 8-1 Concrete HTML Component Classes
javax.faces.component javax.faces.component.html
class renderer-type class
UICommand javax.faces.Button HtmlCommandButton

UICommand javax.faces.Link HtmlCommandLink
UIData javax.faces.Table HtmlDataTable
UIForm javax.faces.Form HtmlForm
UIGraphic javax.faces.Image HtmlGraphicImage
UIInput javax.faces.Hidden HtmlInputHidden
UIInput javax.faces.Secret HtmlInputSecret
UIInput javax.faces.Text HtmlInputText
UIInput javax.faces.Textarea HtmlInputTextarea
UIMessage javax.faces.Message HtmlMessage
UIMessages javax.faces.Messages HtmlMessages
UIOutput javax.faces.Format HtmlOutputFormat
UIOutput javax.faces.Label HtmlOutputLabel
UIOutput javax.faces.Link HtmlOutputLink
UIOutput javax.faces.Text HtmlOutputText
UIOutcomeTarget javax.faces.Link HtmlOutcomeTargetLink
UIOutcomeTarget javax.faces.Button HtmlOutcomeTargetButton
UIPanel javax.faces.Grid HtmlPanelGrid
UIPanel javax.faces.Group HtmlPanelGroup
UISelectBoolean javax.faces.Checkbox HtmlSelectBooleanCheckb
ox
UISelectMany javax.faces.Checkbox HtmlSelectManyCheckbox
UISelectMany javax.faces.Listbox HtmlSelectManyListbox
UISelectMany javax.faces.Menu HtmlSelectManyMenu
UISelectOne javax.faces.Listbox HtmlSelectOneListbox
UISelectOne javax.faces.Menu HtmlSelectOneMenu
UISelectOne javax.faces.Radio HtmlSelectOneRadio
[P1-start-htmlComponent]As with the standard components in the javax.faces.component package, each HTML
component implementation class must define a static public final String constant named COMPONENT_TYPE, whose
value is “javax.faces.” concatenated with the class name. HTML components, however, must not define a
COMPONENT_FAMILY constant, or override the getFamily() method they inherit from their superclass.[P1-end]

9
Integration with JSP
Any JavaServer Faces implementations that claims compliance with this specification must include a complete
JavaServer Pages implementation, and expose this implementation to the runtime of any JSF application. JSF
applications, however, need not use JSP as their View Declaration Language (VDL). In fact, a JSF application is free to
use whatever technology it likes for its VDL, as long as that VDL itself complies with the JSF specification.
This version of the specification requires that implementations support two View Declaration Language syntaxes
? JSP
? Facelets XHTML
This chapter describes the JSP support required by JavaServer Faces. This JSP support is enabled by providing custom
actions so that a JSF user interface can be easy defined in a JSP page by adding tags corresponding to JSF UI
components. Custom actions provided by a JSF implementation may be mixed with standard JSP actions and custom
actions from other libraries, as well as template text for layout, in the same JSP page.
Facelets XHTML is specified in Chapter 10 “Facelets and its use in Web Applications. This chapters builds on the
previous one. Facelets relies on concepts specified in JSP.
For JSP version 2.0 and onward, the file extension “.jsf” is reserved, and may optionally be used (typically by
authoring tools) to represent VDL pages containing JSF content1. When running in a JSP 1.2 environment, JSP authors
must give their JSP pages that contain JSF content a filename ending in “.jsp”.
9.1 UIComponent Custom Actions

A JSP custom action (aka custom tag or tag) for a JSF UIComponent is constructed by combining properties and
attributes of a Java UI component class with the rendering attributes supported by a specific Renderer from a concrete
RenderKit. For example, assume the existence of a concrete RenderKit, HTMLRenderKit, which supports three
Renderer types for the UIInput component:
TABLE 9-1 Example Renderer Types
RendererType Render-Dependent Attributes
“Text” “size”
“Secret” “size”, “secretChar”
“Textarea” “size”, “rows”
1. If this extension is used, it must be declared in the web application deployment descriptor, as described in the JSP 2.0 (or later) specification.
Chapter 9 Integration with JSP 9-1

The tag library descriptor (TLD) file for the corresponding tag library, then, would define three custom actions—one per
Renderer. Below is an example of a portion of the custom action definition for the inputText tag2:
<tag>
<name>inputText</name>
<tag-class>acme.html.tags.InputTag</tag-class>
<bodycontent>JSP</bodycontent>
<attribute>
<name>id</name>
<required>false</required>
<rtexprvalue>true</rtexprvalue>
</attribute>
<attribute>
<name>value</name>
<deferred-value>
<type>java.lang.Object</type>
<deferred-value>
</attribute>
<attribute>
<name>size</name>
<deferred-value>
<type>java.lang.Integer</type>
<deferred-value>
</attribute>
...
</tag>
Note that the size attribute is derived from the Renderer of type “Text”, while the id and value attributes are
derived from the UIInput component class itself. Also note that the id attribute has rtexprvalue set to true. This
is to allow ${} expressions in the id attribute so that <c:forEach> can include faces components that incorporate the
index into their id. RenderKit implementors will generally provide a JSP tag library which includes component
custom actions corresponding to each of the component classes (or types) supported by each of the RenderKit’s
Renderers. See Section 8.1 “RenderKit” and Section 8.2 “Renderer” for details on the RenderKit and Renderer
APIs. JSF implementations must provide such a tag library for the standard HTML RenderKit (see Section 9.5 “Standard
HTML RenderKit Tag Library”).
9.2 Using UIComponent Custom Actions in JSP Pages

The following subsections define how a page author utilizes the custom actions provided by the RenderKit
implementor in the JSP pages that create the user interface of a JSF-based web application.
9.2.1 Declaring the Tag Libraries

This specification hereby reserves the following Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) values to refer to the standard tag
libraries for the custom actions defined by JavaServer Faces:
? http://java.sun.com/jsf/core -- URI for the JavaServer Faces Core Tag Library
2. This example illustrates a non-normative convention for naming custom actions based on a combination of the component name and the renderer type. This
convention is useful, but not required; custom actions may be given any desired custom action name; however the convention is rigorously followed in the
Standard HTML RenderKit Tag Library.

? http://java.sun.com/jsf/html -- URI for the JavaServer Faces Standard HTML RenderKit Tag Library
The page author must use the standard JSP taglib directive to declare the URI of each tag library to be utilized, as
well as the prefix used (within this page) to identify custom actions from this library. For example,
<%@ taglib uri=”http://java.sun.com/jsf/core” prefix=”f” %>

<%@ taglib uri=”http://java.sun.com/jsf/html” prefix=”h” %>
declares the unique resource identifiers of the tag libraries being used, as well as the prefixes to be used within the
current page for referencing actions from these libraries3.
9.2.2 Including Components in a Page

A JSF UIComponent custom action can be placed at any desired position in a JSP page that contains the taglib
directive for the corresponding tag library, subject to the following restrictions:
? When using a single JSP page to create the entire view, JSF component custom actions must be nested inside the
<f:view> custom action from the JSF Core Tag Library.
The following example illustrates the general use of a UIComponent custom action in a JSP page. In this scenario:
<h:inputText id=”username” value=”#{logonBean.username}”/>
represents a UIInput field, to be rendered with the “Text” renderer type, and points to the username property of a
backing bean for the actual value. The id attribute specifies the component id of a UIComponent instance, from within
the component tree, to which this custom action corresponds. If no id is specified, one will be automatically generated
by the custom action implementation.
Custom actions that correspond to JSF UIComponent instances must subclass

javax.faces.webapp.UIComponentELTag (see Section 11.2.6.3 “UIComponentELTag”)
During the Render Response phase of the request processing lifecycle, the appropriate encoding methods of the
component (or its associated Renderer) will be utilized to generate the representation of this component in the
response page. In addition, the first time a particular page is rendered, the component tree may also be dynamically
constructed.
All markup other than UIComponent custom actions is processed by the JSP container, in the usual way. Therefore,
you can use such markup to perform layout control, or include non-JSF content, in conjunction with the actions that
represent UI components.
9.2.3 Creating Components and Overriding Attributes

As UIComponent custom actions are encountered during the processing of a JSP page, the custom action
implementation must check the component tree for the existence of a corresponding UIComponent, and (if not found)
create and configure a new component instance corresponding to this custom action. The details of this process (as
implemented in the findComponent() method of UIComponentClassicTagBase, for easy reuse) are as follows:
? If the component associated with this component custom action has been identified already, return it unchanged.
? Identify the component identifier for the component related to this UIComponent custom action, as follows:
? If the page author has specified a value for the id attribute, use that value.
3. Consistent with the way that namespace prefixes work in XML, the actual prefix used is totally up to the page author, and has no semantic meaning. However,
the values shown above are the suggested defaults, which are used consistently in tag library examples throughout this specification.

? Otherwise, call the createUniqueId() method of the UIViewRoot at the root of the component tree for this
view, and use that value.
? If this UIComponent custom action is creating a facet (that is, we are nested inside an <f:facet> custom action),
determine if there is a facet of the component associated with our parent UIComponent custom action, with the
specified facet name, and proceed as follows:
? If such a facet already exists, take no additional action.
? If no such facet already exists, create a new UIComponent (by calling the createComponent() method on
the Application instance for this web application, passing the value returned by getComponentType(), set
the component identifier to the specified value, call setProperties() passing the new component instance,
and add the new component as a facet of the component associated with our parent UIComponent custom action,
under the specified facet name.
? If this UIComponent custom action is not creating a facet (that is, we are not nested inside an <f:facet> custom
action), determine if there is a child component of the component associated with our parent UIComponent custom
action, with the specified component identifier, and proceed as follows:
? If such a child already exists, take no additional action.
? If no such child already exists, create a new UIComponent (by calling the createComponent() method on
the Application instance for this web application, passing the value returned by getComponentType(), set
the component identifier to the specified value, call setProperties() passing the new component instance,
and add the new component as a child of the component associated with our parent UIComponent custom action.
9.2.4 Deleting Components on Redisplay

In addition to the support for dynamically creating new components, as described above, UIComponent custom actions
will also delete child components (and facets) that are already present in the component tree, but are not rendered on this
display of the page. For example, consider a UIComponent custom action that is nested inside a JSTL <c:if> custom
action whose condition is true when the page is initially rendered. As described in this section, a new UIComponent will
have been created and added as a child of the UIComponent corresponding to our parent UIComponent custom
action. If the page is re-rendered, but this time the <c:if> condition is false, the previous child component will be
removed.

9.2.5 Representing Component Hierarchies
Nested structures of UIComponent custom actions will generally mirror the hierarchical relationships of the
corresponding UIComponent instances in the view that is associated with each JSP page. For example, assume that a
UIForm component (whose component id is logonForm) contains a UIPanel component used to manage the layout.
You might specify the contents of the form like this:
<h:form id=”logonForm”>
<h:panelGrid columns=”2”>
<h:outputLabel for=”username”>
<h:outputText value=”Username:”/>
</h:outputLabel>
<h:inputText id=”username”
value=”#{logonBean.username}”/>
<h:outputLabel for=”password”>
<h:outputText value=”Password:”/>
</h:outputLabel>
<h:inputSecret id=”password”
value=”#{logonBean.password}”/>
<h:commandButton id=”submitButton” type=”SUBMIT”
action=”#{logonBean.logon}”/>
<h:commandButton id=”resetButton” type=”RESET”/>
</h:panelGrid>
</h:form>
9.2.6 Registering Converters, Event Listeners, and Validators

Each JSF implementation is required to provide the core tag library (see Section 9.4 “JSF Core Tag Library”), which
includes custom actions that (when executed) create instances of a specified Converter, ValueChangeListener,
ActionListener or Validator implementation class, and register the created instance with the UIComponent
associated with the most immediately surrounding UIComponent custom action.
Using these facilities, the page author can manage all aspects of creating and configuring values associated with the
view, without having to resort to Java code. For example:
<h:inputText id=”username” value=”#{logonBean.username}”>

<f:validateLength minimum=”6”/>
</h:inputText>
associates a validation check (that the value entered by the user must contain at least six characters) with the username
UIInput component being described.
Following are usage examples for the valueChangeListener and actionListener custom actions.
<h:inputText id=”maxUsers”>
<f:convertNumber integerOnly=”true”/>
<f:valueChangeListener
type="custom.MyValueChangeListener"/>
</h:inputText>
<h:commandButton label="Login">
<f:actionListener type="custom.MyActionListener"/>
</h:commandButton>

This example causes a Converter and a ValueChangeListener of the user specified type to be instantiated and
added as to the enclosing UIInput component, and an ActionListener is instantiated and added to the enclosing
UICommand component. If the user specified type does not implement the proper listener interface a JSPException
must be thrown.
9.2.7 Using Facets

A Facet is a subordinate UIComponent that has a special relationship to its parent UIComponent, as described in
Section 3.1.9 “Facet Management”. Facets can be defined in a JSP page using the <f:facet> custom action. Each facet
action must have one and only one child UIComponent custom action4. For example:
<h:dataTable ...>
<f:facet name=”header”>
<h:outputText value=”Customer List”/>
</f:facet>
<h:column>
<f:facet name=”header”>
<h:outputText value=”Account Id”/>
</f:facet>
<h:outputText id=”accountId” value=
”#{customer.accountId}”/>
</h:column>
...
</h:dataTable>
9.2.8 Interoperability with JSP Template Text and Other Tag Libraries
It is permissible to use other tag libraries, such as the JSP Standard Tag Library (JSTL) in the same JSP page with
UIComponent custom actions that correspond to JSF components, subject to certain restrictions. When JSF component
actions are nested inside custom actions from other libraries, or combined with template text, the following behaviors
must be supported:
? JSF component custom actions nested inside a custom action that conditionally renders its body (such as JSTL’s
<c:if> or <c:choose>) must contain a manually assigned id attribute.
? Interoperation with the JSTL Internationalization-Capable Formatting library (typically used with the “fmt” prefix) is
restricted as follows:
? The <fmt:parseDate> and <fmt:parseNumber> custom actions should not be used. The corresponding JSF
facility is to use an <h:inputText> component custom action with an appropriate DateTimeConverter or
NumberConverter.
? The <fmt:requestEncoding> custom action should not be used. By the time it is executed, the request
parameters will have already been parsed, so any change in the setting here will have no impact. JSF handles
character set issues automatically in most cases. To use a fixed character set in exceptional circumstances, use the
a “<%@ page contentType=”[content-type];[charset]” %>” directive.
? The <fmt:setLocale/> custom action should not be used. Even though it might work in some circumstances,
it would result in JSF and JSTL assuming different locales. If the two locales use different character sets, the
results will be undefined. Applications should use JSF facilities for setting the locale property on the
UIViewRoot component to change locales for a particular user.
4. If you need multiple components in a facet, nest them inside a <h:panelGroup> custom action that is the value of the facet.

9.2.9 Composing Pages from Multiple Sources
JSP pages can be composed from multiple sources using several mechanisms:
? The <%@include%> directive performs a compile-time inclusion of a specified source file into the page being
compiled5. From the perspective of JSF, such inclusions are transparent—the page is compiled as if the inclusions had
been performed before compilation was initiated.
? Several mechanisms (including the <jsp:include> standard action, the JSTL <c:import> custom action when
referencing a resource in the same webapp, and a call to RequestDispatcher.include() for a resource in the
same webapp) perform a runtime dynamic inclusion of the results of including the response content of the requested
page resource in place of the include action. Any JSF components created by execution of JSF component custom
actions in the included resource will be grafted onto the component tree, just as if the source text of the included page
had appeared in the calling page at the position of the include action.
? For mechanisms that aggregate content by other means (such as use of an HttpURLConnection, a
RequestDispatcher.include() on a resource from a different web application, or accessing an external
resource with the JSTL <c:import> custom action on a resource from a different web application, only the
response content of the aggregation request is available. Therefore, any use of JSF components in the generation of
such a response are not combined with the component tree for the current page.
9.3 UIComponent Custom Action Implementation

Requirements
The custom action implementation classes for UIComponent custom actions must conform to all of the requirements
defined in the JavaServer Pages Specification. In addition, they must meet the following JSF-specific requirements:
? Extend the UIComponentELTag or UIComponentELBodyTag base class, so that JSF implementations can
recognize UIComponent custom actions versus others.
? Provide a public getComponentType() method that returns a String-valued component type registered with the
Application instance for this web application. The value returned by this method will be passed to
Application.createComponent() when a new UIComponent instance associated with this custom action is
to be created.
? Provide a public getRendererType() method that returns a String-valued renderer type registered with the
RenderKit instance for the currently selected RenderKit, or null if there should be no associated
Renderer. The value returned by this method will be used to set the rendererType property of any
UIComponent created by this custom action.
? Provide setter methods taking a javax.el.ValueExpression or javax.el.MethodExpression parameter
for all set-able (from a custom action) properties of the corresponding UIComponent class, and all additional set-
able (from a custom action) attributes supported by the corresponding Renderer.
? On the method that causes a UIComponent instance to be added to the tree, verify that the component id of that
UIComponent is unique within the scope of the closest ancestor component that is a NamingContainer. If this
constraint is not met, throw JspException.
? Provide a protected setProperties() method of type void that takes a UIComponent instance as parameter.
The implementation of this method must perform the following tasks:
? Call super.setProperties(), passing the same UIComponent instance received as a parameter.
5. In a JSP 2.0 or later environment, the same effect can be accomplished by using <include-prelude> and <include-coda> elements in the <jsp-config> element in
the web application deployment descriptor.

? For each non-null custom action attribute that corresponds to a property based attribute to be set on the underlying
component, call either setValueExpression() or getAttributes().put(), depending on whether or
not a value expression was specified as the custom action attribute value (performing any required type
conversion). For example, assume that title is the name of a render-dependent attribute for this component:
public void setTitle(javax.el.ValueExpression title) {

this.title = title;
}
protected void setProperties(UIComponent component) throws

JspException {
super.setProperties(component);
if (title != null) {
try {
component.setValueExpression(“title”, title);
}
catch (ELException e) {
throw new JspException(e);
}
...
}
? For each non-null custom action attribute that corresponds to a method based attribute to be set on the underlying
component, the value of the attribute must be a method reference expression. We have a number of wrapper classes
to turn a MethodExpression into the appropriate listener. For example, assume that valueChangeListener is
the name of an attribute for this component:
public void setValueChangeListener(javax.el.MethodExpression me)

{
valueChangeListener = me;
}
protected void setProperties(UIComponent component) {

MethodExpressionValueChangeListener listener =
new MethodExpressionValueChangeListener(valueChangeListener);
input.addValueChangeListener(listener);
...
}

? Non-null custom action attributes that correspond to a writable property to be set on the underlying component are
handled in a similar fashion. For example, assume a custom action for the UIData component is being created
that needs to deal with the rows property (which is of type int):
public void setRows(javax.el.ValueExpression rows) {

this.rows = rows;
}
protected void setProperties(UIComponent component) {

if (rows != null) {
try {
component.setValueExpression(“rows”, rows);
} catch (ELException e) {
throw new JspException(e);
}
}
...
}
? Optionally, provide a public release() method of type void, taking no parameters, to be called when the JSP
page handler releases this custom action instance. If implemented, the method must perform the following tasks:
? Call super.release() to invoke the superclass’s release functionality.
? Clear the instance variables representing the values for set-able custom action attributes (for example, by setting
String values to null).
? Optionally provide overridden implementations for the following method to fine tune the behavior of your
UIComponent custom action implementation class: encodeComponent().
It is technically possible to override other public and protected methods of the UIComponentELTag or
UIComponentBodyELTag base class; however, it is likely that overriding these methods will interfere with the
functionality that other portions of the JSF implementation are assuming to be present, so overriding these methods is
strongly discouraged.
The definition of each UIComponent custom action in the corresponding tag library descriptor (TLD) must conform to
the following requirements:
? The <body-content> element for the custom action itself must specify JSP.
? For each attribute that is intended to be passed on to the underlying faces component:
? The attribute may not be named id. This name is reserved for Faces use.
? If the attribute represents a method expression, it must have a <deferred-method> element containing a
<method-signature> element that describes the signature of the method pointed to by the expression, as
described in section JSP.C.1 in the JSP 2.1 specification.
? Otherwise, the attribute must be a value based attribute, and must have a <deferred-value> element
containing a <type> element which describes the expected type to which the expression will evaluate. Please see
section JSP.C.1 in the JSP 2.1 specification for details.
9.3.1 Considerations for Custom Actions written for JavaServer Faces 1.1
and 1.0
Versions 1.0 and 1.1 of the JavaServer Faces spec included their own EL that happend to have similar semantics to the
JSP EL, but the implementation was bundled into the Faces implementation. This version leverages a new Unified EL
facility provided by JSP. This change has necessitated deprecating some methods and classes, including the classes
Custom Actions as their base class for tags that expose Faces components to the JSP page. This section explains how
custom actions built for Faces 1.0 and 1.1 can continue to run Faces 1.2.

9.3.1.1 Past and Present Tag constraints
Faces 1.0 and 1.1 were targeted at JSP version 1.2 and Servlet version 2.3. This decision brought about several
constraints for faces tag attributes:
? all tag attributes had to declare rtexprvalue to be false.
? all tag attributes had to take the type java.lang.String.
? Faces had to choose a new expression delimiter, #{}, to prevent the JSP container from prematurely evaluating the
expression. This became known as deferred evaluation.
? Because Faces had introduced its own version of the EL, the custom tag action layer had to do a lot of extra work to
“value binding enable” its attributes, calling Faces EL APIs to turn the String attribute value into an instance of
ValueBinding or MethodBinding.
? Faces provided the UIComponentTag and UIComponentBodyTag base classes that were designed to adhere to
the above rules.
Tags that use the Unified EL have the following constraints:

? all tag attributes must not have an rtexprvalue attribute
? all tag attributes must accept javax.el.ValueExpression or javax.el.MethodExpression as their type
(depending on if the attribute refers to a method or a value).
? all tag attributes (except for id) must have a <deferred-value> or <deferred-method> element. See
Section 9.4 “JSF Core Tag Library” in the description for the Attributes column.
? The JSP Container will hand the tag setter a javax.el.ValueExpression or
javax.el.MethodExpression directly, so there is no need to use the Faces API to create them.
? The UIComponentTag and UIComponentBodyTag classes are deprecated and Faces provides new base class,
UIComponentELTag to the new rules for taglibs in Faces.
It’s very important to note that we still are using #{} as the delimiters for expressions that appear in a JSP page in the
value of a tag attribute, but when the Java API is used, either ${} or #{} may be used for delimiters.
9.3.1.2 Faces 1.0 and 1.1 Taglib migration story

It is imperitive that applications written for Faces 1.0 and 1.1 continue to run on Faces 1.2. From the JSP perspective,
this means
1. that JSP pages using the standard h: and f: tags must work without change
2. that JSP pages using custom faces taglibs must work without change
The first item is enabled by re-writing the h: and f: taglibs which must be provided by the Faces implementor.
The second item is enabled as follows. For discussion the term jsp-version is used to denote the jsp-version
element in a JSP 1.2 (and earlier) TLD, as well as the version element in a JSP 2.0 (and later) TLD. The JSP container
must examine the jsp-version element of the TLD for a taglib. If the jsp-version is less than 2.1, the taglib is
deemed to be a Faces 1.0 or 1.1 taglib and the container must ignore all expressions that use #{} as delimiters, except for
those appearing in tag attribute with a property setter that takes a javax.el.ValueExpression or
javax.el.MethodExpression. If the jsp-version is 2.1 or greater, the taglib is deemed to be a Faces 1.2 or
later taglib and the JSP container is aware of #{} expressions.

9.4 JSF Core Tag Library
[P1-start jsf_core taglib requirements] All JSF implementations must provide a tag library containing core actions
(described below) that are independent of a particular RenderKit. The corresponding tag library descriptor must meet
the following requirements:
? Must declare a tag library version (<tlib-version>) value of 1.2.
? Must declare a URI (<uri>) value of http://java.sun.com/jsf/core.
? Must be included in the META-INF directory of a JAR file containing the corresponding implementation classes,
suitable for inclusion with a web application, such that the tag library descriptor will be located automatically by the
algorithm described in Section 7.3 of the JavaServer Pages Specification (version 2.1). [P1-end]
[P1-start no javascript in jsf_core taglib] The tags in the implementation of this tag library must not cause JavaScript to
be rendered to the client. Doing so would break the requirement that the JSF Core Tag library is independent of any
specific RenderKit. [P1-end]
Each custom action included in the JSF Core Tag Library is documented in a subsection below, with the following
outline for each action:
? Name—The name of this custom action, as used in a JSP page.
? Short Description—A summary of the behavior implemented by this custom action.
? Syntax—One or more examples of using this custom action, with the required and optional sets of attributes that may
be used together. If the tag may have an id attribute, its value may be a literal string, or an immediate, non-defferd
expression, such as “userName” or “user${i}” without the quotes.
? Body Content—The type of nested content for this custom action, using one of the standard values empty, JSP, or
tagdependent as described in the JSP specification. This section also describes restrictions on the types of content
(template text, JSF core custom actions, JSF UIComponent custom actions, and/or other custom actions) that can be
nested in the body of this custom action.
? Attributes—A table containing one row for each defined attribute for this custom action. The following columns
provide descriptive information about each attribute:
? Name—Name of this attribute, as it must be used in the page. If the name of the attribute is in italics, it is required.
? Expr—The type of dynamic expression (if any) that can be used in this attribute value. Legal values are VE (this
may be a literal or a value expression), ME (this may be a method expression), or NONE (this attribute accepts
literal values only). If the Expr column is VE, the corresponding <attribute> declaration in the TLD must
contain a <deferred-value> element, optionally containing a <type> element that contains the fully
qualified java class name of the expected type of the expression. If <type> is omitted, Object.class is assumed. If
the Expr column is ME, the corresponding <attribute> declaration in the TLD must contain a <deferred-
method> element, containing a <method-signature> element that describes the exact method signature for
the method. In this case, the Description column the description column contains the method signature.
? Type—Fully qualified Java class or primitive type of this attribute.
? Description—The functional meaning of this attribute’s value.
? Constraints—Additional constraints enforced by this action, such as combinations of attributes that may be used
together.
? Description—Details about the functionality provided by this custom action.

9.4.1 <f:actionListener>
Register an ActionListener instance on the UIComponent associated with the closest parent UIComponent
custom action.
Syntax
<f:actionListener type=”fully-qualified-classname” binding=”value Expression”/>
Body Content
empty.
Attributes
Name Expr Type Description
type VE String Fully qualified Java class name of an

ActionListener to be created and registered
binding VE ValueEx A ValueExpression expression that
pressio evaluates to an object that implements
n javax.faces.event.ActionListener
Constraints
? Must be nested inside a UIComponent custom action.
? The corresponding UIComponent implementation class must implement ActionSource, and therefore define a
public addActionListener() method that accepts an ActionListener parameter.
? The specified listener class must implement javax.faces.event.ActionListener.
? type and/or binding must be specified.
[P1-start f:actionListener constraints] If this tag is not nested inside a UIComponent custom action, or the
UIComponent implementation class does not correctly implement ActionSource, or the specified listener class does
not implement javax.faces.event.ActionListener, throw a JspException. [P1-end] Note that if the
binding attribute is used, the scope of the ValueExpression must be chosen carefully so as not to introduce
undesireable results. In general, when using the binding attribute, do not point to beans in request or narrower scope.
Description
Locate the closest parent UIComponent custom action instance by calling

UIComponentClassicTagBase.getParentUIComponentClassicTagBase(). If the getCreated()
method of this instance returns true, check the binding attribute.
If binding is set, create a ValueExpression by invoking Application.createValueExpression() with binding

as the expression argument, and Object.class as the expectedType argument. Use the ValueExpression to
obtain a reference to the ActionListener instance. If there is no exception thrown, and
ValueExpression.getValue() returned a non-null object that implements javax.faces.event.ActionListener,
register it by calling addActionListener(). If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a
JspException.
If the listener instance could not be created, check the type attribute. If the type attribute is set, instantiate an
instance of the specified class, and register it by calling addActionListener(). If the binding attribute was also
set, evaluate the expression into a ValueExpression and store the listener instance by calling setValue() on the
ValueExpression. If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a JspException.
As an alternative to using the binding and/or type attributes, you may also register a method in a backing bean class
to receive ActionEvent notifications, by using the actionListener attribute on the corresponding UIComponent
custom action.

9.4.2 <f:attribute>
Add an attribute or ValueExpression on the UIComponent associated with the closest parent UIComponent
custom action.
Syntax
<f:attribute name=”attribute-name” value=”attribute-value”/>
Body Content
empty.
Attributes
name VE String Name of the component attribute to be set

value VE Object Value of the component attribute to be set
Constraints
Description

UIComponentClassicTagBase.getParentUIComponentClassicTagBase(). Call the getValue()
method on the argument name to obtain the name of the attribute. If the associated component already has a component
attribute with that name, take no action. Otherwise, call the isLiteralText() method on the argument value. If it
returns true, store the value in the component’s attribute Map under the name derived above. If it returns false, store
the ValueExpression in the component’s ValueExpression Map under the name derived above.
There is no standard implementation class for this action. It must be provided by the implementation.

9.4.3 <f:convertDateTime>
Register a DateTimeConverter instance on the UIComponent associated with the closest parent UIComponent
custom action.
Syntax
<f:convertDateTime
[dateStyle=”{default|short|medium|long|full}”]
[locale=”{locale” | string}]
[pattern=”pattern”]
[timeStyle=”{default|short|medium|long|full}”]
[timeZone=”{timeZone| string}”]
[type=”{date|time|both|localDate|localDateTime|localTime|offsetTime|offsetDateTime|
zonedDateTime}”]
[binding=”Value Expression”]/>
Body Content
empty.

Attributes
date- VE String Predefined formatting style which

Style determines how the date component
of a date string is to be
formatted and parsed. Applied only
if type is "date", "both",
"localDate", "localDateTime", or
"zonedDateTime". Valid values are
"default", "short", "medium",
"long", and "full". Default value
is "default". If a java.time
formatter is being used, yet the
dateStyle is set to "default", the
value "medium" is assumed.
locale VE Locale Locale whose predefined styles for
or dates and times are used during
String formatting or parsing. If not
specified, the Locale returned by
FacesContext.getViewRoot().getLocal
e() will be used. Value must be
either a VE expression that
evaluates to a java.util.Locale
instance, or a String that is valid
to pass as the first argument to
the constructor
java.util.Locale(String language,
String country). The empty string
is passed as the second argument.
pattern VE String Custom formatting pattern which
determines how the date/time string
should be formatted and parsed.
time- VE String Predefined formatting style which
Style determines how the time component
of a date string is to be
formatted and parsed. Applied only
if type is "time", "both",
"localTime" or "offsetTime". Valid
values are "default", "short",
"medium", "long", and "full".
Default value is "default". If a
java.time formatter is being used,
yet the timeStyle is set to
"default", the value "medium" is
assumed.

time- VE timezon Time zone in which to interpret any

Zone e or time information in the date
String string. Value must be either a VE
expression that evaluates to a
java.util.TimeZone instance, or a
String that is a timezone ID as
described in the javadocs for
java.util.TimeZone.getTimeZone().
type VE String Specifies what contents the string
value will be formatted to include,
or parsed expecting. Valid values
are "date", "time", "both",
"localDate", "localDateTime",
"localTime", "offsetTime",
"offsetDateTime", and
"zonedDateTime". The values
starting with "local", "offset" and
"zoned" correspond to Java SE 8
Date Time API classes in package
java.time with the name derived by
upper casing the first letter. For
example, java.time.LocalDate for
the value "localDate". Default
value is "date".
n javax.faces.convert.Converter
Constraints
? Must be nested inside a UIComponent custom action whose component class implements ValueHolder, and
whose value is a java.util.Date (or appropriate subclass).
? If pattern is specified, the pattern syntax must use the pattern syntax specified by
java.text.SimpleDateFormat or java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter depending on the value of
type.
? If pattern is not specified, formatted strings will contain a date value, a time value, or both depending on the
specified type. When date or time values are included, they will be formatted according to the specified
dateStyle and timeStyle, respectively.
? if type is not specified:
? if dateStyle is set and timeStyle is not, type defaults to date
? if timeStyle is set and dateStyle is not, type defaults to time
? if both dateStyle and timeStyle are set, type defaults to both
[P1-start f:convertDateTime constraints] If this tag is not nested inside a UIComponent custom action, or the
UIComponent implementation class does not correctly implement ValueHolder, throw a JspException [P1-end]
Description

method of this instance returns true, create, call createConverter() and register the returned Converter instance
on the associated UIComponent.
[P1-start f:convertDateTime implementation requirements ]The implementation class for this action must meet the
following requirements:
? Must extend javax.faces.webapp.ConverterELTag.
? The createConverter() method must:

? If binding is non-null, call getValue() on it to obtain a reference to the Converter instance. If there is no
exception thrown, and binding.getValue() returned a non-null object that implements
javax.faces.convert.Converter, it must then cast the returned instance to
javax.faces.convert.DateTimeConverter and configure its properties based on the specified attributes
for this custom action, and return the configured instance. If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception
as a JspException.
? use the converterId if the converter instance could not be created from the binding attribute. Call the
createConverter() method of the Application instance for this application, passing converter id
“javax.faces.DateTime”. If the binding attribute was also set, store the converter instance by calling
binding.setValue(). It must then cast the returned instance to
javax.faces.convert.DateTimeConverter and configure its properties based on the specified attributes
as a JspException.
? If the type attribute is not specified, it defaults as follows:
? If dateStyle is specified but timeStyle is not specified, default to date.
? If dateStyle is not specified but timeStyle is specified, default to time.
? If both dateStyle and timeStyle are specified, default to both. [P1-end]

9.4.4 <f:convertNumber>
Register a NumberConverter instance on the UIComponent associated with the closest parent UIComponent
custom action.
Syntax
<f:convertNumber
[currencyCode=”currencyCode”]
[currencySymbol=”currencySymbol”]
[groupingUsed=”{true|false}”]
[integerOnly=”{true|false}”]
[locale=”locale”]
[maxFractionDigits=”maxFractionDigits”]
[maxIntegerDigits=”maxIntegerDigits”]
[minFractionDigits=”minFractionDigits”]
[minIntegerDigits=”minIntegerDigits”]
[pattern=”pattern”]
[type=”{number|currency|percent}”]
[binding=”Value Expression”]/>
Body Content
empty.

Attributes
currenc VE String ISO 4217 currency code, applied

yCode only when formatting currencies.
currenc VE String Currency symbol, applied only when
ySymbol formatting currencies.
groupin VE boolean Specifies whether formatted output
gUsed will contain grouping separators.
integer VE boolean Specifies whether only the integer
Only part of the value will be parsed.
locale VE java.ut Locale whose predefined styles for
il.Loca numbers are used during formatting
le or parsing. If not specified, the
Locale returned by
FacesContext.getViewRoot().getLocal
e() will be used.
maxFrac VE int Maximum number of digits that will
tionDig be formatted in the fractional
its portion of the output.
maxInte VE int Maximum number of digits that will
gerDigi be formatted in the integer portion
ts of the output
minFrac VE int Minimum number of digits that will
tionDig be formatted in the fractional
its portion of the output.
minInte VE int Minimum number of digits that will
gerDigi be formatted in the integer portion
ts of the output.
pattern VE String Custom formatting pattern which
determines how the number string
should be formatted and parsed.
type VE String Specifies whether the value will be
parsed and formatted as a number,
currency, or percentage.
n javax.faces.convert.Converter
Constraints
? Must be nested inside a UIComponent custom action whose component class implements ValueHolder, and
whose value is a numeric wrapper class or primitive.
? If pattern is specified, the pattern syntax must use the pattern syntax specified by
java.text.DecimalFormat.
? If pattern is not specified, formatting and parsing will be based on the specified type.
[P1-start f:convertNumber constraints] If this tag is not nested inside a UIComponent custom action, or the
UIComponent implementation class does not correctly implement ValueHolder, throw a JspException. [P1-end]

Description

[P1-start f:convertNumber implementation] The implementation class for this action must meet the following
requirements:
? Must extend javax.faces.webapp.ConverterELTag.
? If binding is non-null, call binding.getValue() to obtain a reference to the Converter instance. If there is
no exception thrown, and binding.getValue() returned a non-null object that implements
javax.faces.convert.Converter, it must then cast the returned instance to
javax.faces.convert.NumberConverter and configure its properties based on the specified attributes for
this custom action, and return the configured instance. If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a
JspException.
? use the converterId if the converter instance could not be created from the binding attribute. Call the
createConverter() method of the Application instance for this application, passing converter id
“javax.faces.Number”. If the binding attribute was also set, store the converter instance by calling
binding.setValue(). It must then cast the returned instance to
javax.faces.convert.NumberConverter and configure its properties based on the specified attributes for
this custom action, and return the configured instance. If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a
JspException. [P1-end]

9.4.5 <f:converter>
Register a named Converter instance on the UIComponent associated with the closest parent UIComponent
custom action.
Syntax
<f:converter converterId=”converterId” binding=”Value Expression”/>
Body Content
empty
Attributes
convert VE String Converter identifier of the converter to be created.

erId
binding VE ValueExpr A ValueExpression expression that
ession evaluates to an object that implements
javax.faces.convert.Converter
Constraints
? Must be nested inside a UIComponent custom action whose component class implements ValueHolder.
? converterId and/or binding must be specified.
[P1-start f:converter constraints] If this tag is not nested inside a UIComponent custom action, or the UIComponent
implementation class does not correctly implement ValueHolder, throw a JspException. [P1-end]
Description

[P1-start f:converter implementation] The implementation class for this action must meet the following requirements:
? Must extend javax.faces.webapp.ConverterJspTag.
? If binding is non-null, call binding.getValue() to obtain a reference to the Converter instance. If
there is no exception thrown, and binding.getValue() returned a non-null object that implements
javax.faces.convert.Converter, register it by calling setConverter(). If there was an exception
thrown, rethrow the exception as a JspException.Use the converterId attribute if the converter instance
could not be created from the binding attribute. If the converterId attribute is set, call the
createConverter() method of the Application instance for this application, passing converter id specified
by their converterId attribute. If the binding attribute was also set, store the converter instance by calling
binding.setValue(). Register the converter instance by calling setConverter(). If there was an
exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a JspException. [P1-end]

9.4.6 <f:facet>
Register a named facet (see Section 3.1.9 “Facet Management”) on the UIComponent associated with the closest parent
UIComponent custom action.
Syntax
<f:facet name=”facet-name”/>
Body Content
JSP. However, only a single UIComponent custom action (and any related nested JSF custom actions) is allowed; no
template text or other custom actions may be present.
Attributes
name NONE String Name of the facet to be created
Constraints
? [P1-start f:facet constraints] Must be nested inside a UIComponent custom action.
? Exactly one UIComponent custom action must be nested inside this custom action (although the nested component
custom action could itself have nested children). [P1-end]
Description

UIComponentClassicTagBase.getParentUIComponentClassicTagBase(). If the associated component
does not already have a facet with a name specified by this custom action’s name attribute, create a facet with this name
from the UIComponent custom action that is nested within this custom action.
[P1-start f:facet implementation] The implementation class must be, or extend, javax.faces.webapp.FacetTag.
[P1-end]

9.4.7 <f:loadBundle>
Load a resource bundle localized for the locale of the current view, and expose it (as a Map) in the request attributes for
the current request.
Syntax
<f:loadBundle basename=”resource-bundle-name” var=”attributeKey”/>
Body Content
empty
Attributes
basenam VE String Base name of the resource bundle to be loaded.

e
var NONE String Name of a request scope attribute under which the
resource bundle will be exposed as a Map.
Constraints
? [P1-start f:loadBundle constraints] Must be nested inside an <f:view> custom action. [P1-end]
Description
Load the resource bundle specified by the basename attribute, localized for the Locale of the UIViewRoot component
of the current view, and expose its key-values pairs as a Map under the attribute key specified by the var attribute. In
this way, value binding expressions may be used to conveniently retrieve localized values. If the named bundle is not
found, throw JspException.
If the get() method for the Map instance exposed by this custom action is passed a key value that is not present (that
is, there is no underlying resource value for that key), the literal string “???foo???” (where “foo” is replaced by the key
the String representation of the key that was requested) must be returned, rather than the standard Map contract return
value of null.

9.4.8 <f:param>
Add a child UIParameter component to the UIComponent associated with the closest parent UIComponent custom
action.
Syntax
Syntax 1: Unnamed value

<f:param [id=”componentIdOrImmediateExpression”] value=”parameter-value”
[binding=”componentReference”]/>
Syntax 2: Named value

<f:param [id=”componentIdOrImmediateExpression”]
[binding=”componentReference”]
name=”parameter-name” value=”parameter-value”/>
Body Content
empty.
Attributes
binding VE ValueExpr ValueExpression expression to a backing bean

ession property bound to the component instance for the
UIComponent created by this custom action
id NONE String Component identifier of a UIParameter
component
name VE String Name of the parameter to be set
value VE String Value of the parameter to be set
Constraints
? [P1-start f:param constraints] Must be nested inside a UIComponent custom action. [P1-end]
Description

method of this instance returns true, create a new UIParameter component, and attach it as a child of the associated
UIComponent. It is up to the parent UIComponent to determine how it will handle its UIParameter children.
[P1-start f:param implementation] The implementation class for this action must meet the following requirements:
? Must extend javax.faces.UIComponentELTag.
? The getComponentType() method must return “Parameter”.
? The getRendererType() method must return null. [P1-end]

9.4.9 <f:phaseListener>
Register a PhaseListener instance on the UIViewRoot associated with the closest parent UIViewRoot custom
action.
Syntax
<f:phaseListener type=”fully-qualified-classname”
binding=”Value expression”/>
Body Content
empty.
Attributes
type VE String Fully qualified Java class name of an

PhaseListener to be created and registered
n javax.faces.event.PhaseListener
Constraints
? [P1-start f:phaseListener constraints] Must be nested inside a UIViewRoot custom action.
? The specified listener class must implement javax.faces.event.PhaseListener.
? type and/or binding must be specified. [P1-end]
Description
Locate the one and only UIViewRoot custom action instance by walking up the tag tree until you find a
UIComponentTagBase instance that has no parent. If the getCreated() method of this instance returns true,
check the binding attribute.
If binding is set, call binding.getValue() to obtain a reference to the PhaseListener instance. If there is no
exception thrown, and binding.getValue() returned a non-null object that implements
javax.faces.event.PhaseListener, register it by calling addPhaseListener(). If there was an exception
thrown, rethrow the exception as a JspException.
instance of the specified class, and register it by calling addPhaseListener(). If the binding attribute was also set,
store the listener instance by calling binding.setValue(). If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception
as a JspException.

9.4.10 <f:selectItem>
Add a child UISelectItem component to the UIComponent associated with the closest parent UIComponent
custom action.
Syntax
Syntax 1: Directly Specified Value

<f:selectItem [id=”componentIdOrImmediateExpression”]
[itemDisabled=”{true|false}”]
itemValue=”itemValue”
itemLabel=”itemLabel”
[itemDescription=”itemDescription”]/>
Syntax 2: Indirectly Specified Value

<f:selectItem [id=”componentIdOrImmediateExpression”]
value=”selectItemValue”/>
Body Content
empty

Attributes
binding VE ValueEx ValueExpression expression to a backing bean

pressio property bound to the component instance for the
n UIComponent created by this custom action.
id NONE String Component identifier of a UISelectItem
component.
itemDes VE String Description of this option (for use in development
criptio tools).
n
itemDisab VE boolean Flag indicating whether the option created by this
led component is disabled.
itemLabel VE String Label to be displayed to the user for this option.
itemValue VE Object Value to be returned to the server if this option is
selected by the user.
value VE javax.faces Value binding pointing at a SelectItem instance
.model.Sel containing the information for this option.
ectItem
escape VE boolean ValueExpression pointing to a boolean that tells
whether or not the label of this selectItem should
be escaped per HTML rules. Default is true.
Constraints
? [P1-start f:selectItem constraints] Must be nested inside a UIComponent custom action that creates a
UISelectMany or UISelectOne component instance.[P1-end]
Description

method of this instance returns true, create a new UISelectItem component, and attach it as a child of the
associated UIComponent.
[P1-start f:selectItem implementation] The implementation class for this action must meet the following requirements:
? The getComponentType() method must return “SelectItem”.
? The getRendererType() method must return null.[P1-end]

9.4.11 <f:selectItems>
Add a child UISelectItems component to the UIComponent associated with the closest parent UIComponent
custom action.
Syntax
<f:selectItems [id=”componentIdOrImmediateExpression”]
value=”selectItemsValue”/>
Body Content
empty
Attributes
binding VE ValueEx ValueExpression expression to a backing bean

pressio property bound to the component instance for the
n UIComponent created by this custom action.
id NONE String Component identifier of a UISelectItem
component.
value VE javax.faces Value binding expression pointing at one of the
.model.Sel following instances:
ectItem, 1. an individual javax.faces.model.SelectItem
see 2. a java language array of
description javax.faces.model.SelectItem
for specific
3. a java.util.Collection of
details
javax.faces.model.SeleccItem
4. A java.util.Map where the keys are converted to
Strings and used as labels, and the
corresponding values are converted to Strings
and used as values for newly created
javax.faces.model.SelectItem instances. The
instances are created in the order of the iterator
over the keys provided by the Map.
Constraints
? Must be nested inside a UIComponent custom action that creates a UISelectMany or UISelectOne component
instance.
Description

method of this instance returns true, create a new UISelectItems component, and attach it as a child of the
associated UIComponent.
[P1-start f:selectItems implementation]The implementation class for this action must meet the following requirements:
? The getComponentType() method must return “javax.faces.SelectItems”.

9.4.12 <f:setPropertyActionListener>
Tag implementation that creates a special ActionListener instance and registers it on the ActionSource
associated with our most immediate surrounding instance of a tag whose implementation class is a subclass of
UIComponentTag. This tag creates no output to the page currently being created. This tag is useful for pushing a
specific value into a managed bean on page submit.
Syntax
<f:setPropertyActionListener target=”Value Expression” value=”value Expression”/>
Body Content
empty.
Attributes
value VE ValueEx The ValueExpression from which the value is

pressio taken.
n
target VE ValueEx The ValueExpression into which the
pressio evaluated value from the “value” attribute is
n stored when the listener executes.
Constraints
? The corresponding UIComponent implementation class must implement ActionSource, and therefore define a
public addActionListener() method that accepts an ActionListener parameter.
? The tag implementation must only create and register the ActionListener instance the first time the component
for this tag is created
? When the listener executes:
? Call getValue() on the "value" ValueExpression.
? If value of the "value" expression is null, call setValue()on the "target" ValueExpression with the null
value.
? If the value of the "value" expression is not null, call getType()on the "value" and "target"
ValueExpressions to determine their property types.
? Coerce the value of the "value" expression to the "target" expression value type following the Expression
Language coercion rules. Call setValue()on the "target" ValueExpression with the resulting value.
? If either conversion or the execution of setValue() fails throw an AbortProcessingException.
? This tag creates no output to the page currently being created. It is used solely for the side effect of
ActionListener creation and addition.
[P1-start f:setPropertyActionListener constraints]If this tag is not nested inside a UIComponent custom action, or the
UIComponent implementation class does not correctly implement ActionSource, or the specified listener class does
not implement javax.faces.event.ActionListener, throw a JspException. [P1-end]
Description

method of this instance returns true return SKIP_BODY.

Create an instance of ActionListener that implements StateHolder and stores the target and value
ValueExpression instances as instance variables included in the state saving contract. The processAction()
method of the listener must call getValue() on the value ValueExpression and convert the value before passing
the result to a call to setValue() on the target ValueExpression.

9.4.13 <f:subview>
Container action for all JSF core and component custom actions used on a nested page included via <jsp:include>
or any custom action that dynamically includes another page from the same web application, such as JSTL’s
<c:import>.
Syntax
<f:subview id=”componentIdOrImmediateExpression”
[rendered=”{true|false}”]>
Nested template text and custom actions
</f:subview>
Body Content
JSP. May contain any combination of template text, other JSF custom actions, and custom actions from other custom tag
libraries.
Attributes
binding VE ValueEx ValueExpression expression to a backing

pressio bean property bound to the component instance for
n the UIComponent created by this custom action.
id NONE String Component identifier of a UINamingContainer
component
rendere VE Boolean Whether or not this subview should be rendered.
d
Constraints
? [P1-start f:subview constraints] Must be nested inside a <f:view> custom action (although this custom action might
be in a page that is including the page containing the <f:subview> custom action.
? Must not contain an <f:view> custom action.
? Must have an id attribute whose value is unique within the scope of the parent naming container. If this constraint is
not met, the action taken regarding id uniqueness in section Section 9.3 “UIComponent Custom Action
Implementation Requirements” must be taken
? May be placed in a parent page (with <jsp:include> or <c:import> nested inside), or within the nested page.
[P1-end]
Description

method of this instance returns true, create a new UINamingContainer component, and attach it as a child of the

associated UIComponent. Such a component provides a scope within which child component identifiers must still be
unique, but allows child components to have the same simple identifier as child components nested in some other naming
container. This is useful in several scenarios:
“main.jsp”
<f:view>
<c:import url=”foo.jsp”/>
<c:import url=”bar.jsp”/>
</f:view>
“foo.jsp”
<f:subview id=”aaa”>
... components and other content ...
</f:subview>
“bar.jsp”
<f:subview id=”bbb”>
</f:subview>
In this scenario, <f:subview> custom actions in imported pages establish a naming scope for components within those
pages. Identifiers for <f:subview> custom actions nested in a single <f:view> custom action must be unique, but it
is difficult for the page author (and impossible for the JSP page compiler) to enforce this restriction.
“main.jsp”
<f:view>
</f:subview>
<c:import url=”bar.jsp”/>
</f:subview>
</f:view>
“foo.jsp”
“bar.jsp”
In this scenario, the <f:subview> custom actions are in the including page, rather than the included page. As in the
previous scenario, the “id” values of the two subviews must be unique; but it is much easier to verify using this style.

It is also possible to use this approach to include the same page more than once, but maintain unique identifiers:
“main.jsp”
<f:view>
</f:subview>
</f:subview>
</f:view>
“foo.jsp”
In all of the above examples, note that foo.jsp and bar.jsp may not contain <f:view>.
The implementation class for this action must meet the following requirements:
? [P1-start f:subview implementation] Must extend javax.faces.UIComponentELTag.
? The getComponentType() method must return “NamingContainer”.

9.4.14 <f:validateDoubleRange>
Register a DoubleRangeValidator instance on the UIComponent associated with the closest parent
UIComponent custom action.
Syntax
Syntax 1: Maximum only specified

<f:validateDoubleRange maximum=”543.21” binding=”VB Expression”/>
Syntax 2: Minimum only specified

<f:validateDoubleRange minimum=”123.45” binding=”VB Expression”/>
Syntax 3: Both maximum and minimum are specified

<f:validateDoubleRange maximum=”543.21” minimum=”123.45” binding=”VB Expression”/>
Body Content
empty.
Attributes
maximum VE double Maximum value allowed for this component

minimum VE double Minimum value allowed for this component
n javax.faces.convert.Validator
for VE ValueEx A ValueExpression expression that
pressio evaluates to String referring to the value of one of
n the exposed attached objects within the composite
component inside of which this tag is nested.
Constraints
? Must be nested inside a EditableValueHolder custom action whose value is (or is convertible to) a double.
? Must specify either the maximum attribute, the minimum attribute, or both.
? If both limits are specified, the maximum limit must be greater than the minimum limit.
[P1-start f:validateDoubleRange constraints] If this tag is not nested inside a UIComponent custom action, or the
UIComponent implementation class does not correctly implement EditableValueHolder throw a
Description

method of this instance returns true, create, call createValidator() and register the returned Validator
instance on the associated UIComponent.

[P1-start f:validateDoubleRange implementation] The implementation class for this action must meet the following
requirements:
? Must extend javax.faces.webapp.ValidatorELTag.
? The createValidator() method must:
? If binding is non-null, create a ValueBinding by invoking Application.createValueExpression() with
binding as the expression argument, and Validator.class as the expectedType argument.use the
ValueBinding to obtain a reference to the Validator instance. If there is no exception thrown, and
ValueExpression.getValue() returned a non-null object that implements
javax.faces.validator.Validator, it must then cast the returned instance to
javax.faces.validator.DoubleRangeValidator and configure its properties based on the specified
attributes for this custom action, and return the configured instance. If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the
exception as a JspException.
? use the validatorId if the validator instance could not be created from the binding attribute. Call the
createValidator() method of the Application instance for this application, passing validator id
“javax.faces.DoubleRange”. If the binding attribute was also set, evaluate the expression into a
ValueExpression and store the validator instance by calling setValue() on the ValueExpression. It must
then cast the returned instance to javax.faces.validator.DoubleRangeValidator and configure its
properties based on the specified attributes for this custom action, and return the configured instance. If there was an
exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a JspException. [P1-end]

9.4.15 <f:validateLength>
Register a LengthValidator instance on the UIComponent associated with the closest parent UIComponent
custom action.
Syntax
Syntax 1: Maximum length only specified

<f:validateLength maximum=”10” binding=”VB Expression”/>

<f:validateLength minimum=”1” binding=”VB Expression”/>

<f:validateLength maximum=”10” minimum=”1” binding=”VB Expression”/>
Body Content
empty.
Attributes
maximum VE double Maximum value allowed for this component

minimum VE double Minimum value allowed for this component
Constraints
? Must be nested inside a EditableValueHolder custom action whose value is (or is convertible to) a double.
[P1-start f:validateDoubleRange constraints] If this tag is not nested inside a UIComponent custom action, or the
UIComponent implementation class does not correctly implement EditableValueHolder throw a
Description

[P1-start f:validateDoubleRange implementation] The implementation class for this action must meet the following
requirements:

? If binding is non-null, create a ValueBinding by invoking Application.createValueExpression() with
binding as the expression argument, and Validator.class as the expectedType argument.use the
ValueBinding to obtain a reference to the Validator instance. If there is no exception thrown, and
javax.faces.validator.DoubleRangeValidator and configure its properties based on the specified
“javax.faces.DoubleRange”. If the binding attribute was also set, evaluate the expression into a
ValueExpression and store the validator instance by calling setValue() on the ValueExpression. It
must then cast the returned instance to javax.faces.validator.DoubleRangeValidator and configure
its properties based on the specified attributes for this custom action, and return the configured instance. If there
was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a JspException. [P1-end]

9.4.16 <f:validateRegex>
Register a RegexValidator instance on the UIComponent associated with the closest parent UIComponent
custom action.
Syntax
<f:validateRegex pattern=”a*b”/>
Body Content
empty.
Attributes
pattern VE String The string to be interpreted as a

java.util.regex.Pattern
Constraints
? Must be nested inside a EditableValueHolder custom action whose value is a String.
? Must specify either the pattern attribute.
[P1-start f:validateLength constraints] If this tag is not nested inside a UIComponent custom action, or the
UIComponent implementation class does not correctly implement EditableValueHolder, throw a
Description

[P1-start f:validateLength implementation] The implementation class for this action must meet the following
requirements:
? If binding is non-null, create a ValueExpression by invoking Application.createValueExpression()
with binding as the expression argument, and Validator.class as the expectedType argument.use the
ValueExpression to obtain a reference to the Validator instance. If there is no exception thrown, and
javax.faces.validator.RegexValidator and configure its properties based on the specified attributes
as a JspException.
“javax.faces.RegularExpression”. If the binding attribute was also set, evaluate the expression into a
must then cast the returned instance to javax.faces.validator.RegexValidator and configure its
properties based on the specified attributes for this custom action, and return the configured instance. If there was
an exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a JspException.[P1-end]

9.4.17 <f:validateLongRange>
Register a LongRangeValidator instance on the UIComponent associated with the closest parent UIComponent
custom action.
Syntax
Syntax 1: Maximum only specified

<f:validateLongRange maximum=”543” binding=”VB Expression”/>

<f:validateLongRange minimum=”123” binding=”VB Expression”/>

<f:validateLongRange maximum=”543” minimum=”123” binding=”VB Expression”/>
Body Content
empty.
Attributes
maximum VE long Maximum value allowed for this component

minimum VE long Minimum value allowed for this component
Constraints
? Must be nested inside a EditableValueHolder custom action whose value is (or is convertible to) a long.
[P1-start f:validateLongeRange constraints] If this tag is not nested inside a UIComponent custom action, or the
UIComponent implementation class does not correctly implement EditableValueHolder, throw a
Description


? If binding is non-null, create a ValueExpression by invoking Application.createValueExpression()
with binding as the expression argument, and Validator.class as the expectedType argument. Use the
ValueExpression to obtain a reference to the Validator instance. If there is no exception thrown, and
javax.faces.validator.LongRangeValidator and configure its properties based on the specified
“javax.faces.LongRange”. If the binding attribute was also set, evaluate the expression into a
must then cast the returned instance to javax.faces.validator.LongRangeValidator and configure its
properties based on the specified attributes for this custom action, and return the configured instance. If there was
an exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a JspException.

9.4.18 <f:validator>
Register a named Validator instance on the UIComponent associated with the closest parent UIComponent
custom action.
Syntax
<f:validator validatorId=”validatorId” binding=”VB Expression”/>
Body Content
empty
Attributes
validat VE String Validator identifier of the validator to be created.

orId
Constraints
? Must be nested inside a UIComponent custom action whose component class implements
EditableValueHolder.
? validatorId and/or binding must be specified.
[P1-start f:validator constraints 2] If this tag is not nested inside a UIComponent custom action, or the UIComponent
implementation class does not correctly implement EditableValueHolder throw a JspException. [P1-end]
Description

? Must extend javax.faces.webapp.ValidatorJspTag.
? If binding is non-null, call binding.getValue() to obtain a reference to the Validator instance. If there
is no exception thrown, and binding.getValue() returned a non-null object that implements
javax.faces.validator.Validator, register it by calling addValidator(). If there was an exception
thrown, rethrow the exception as a JspException.
? use the validatorId attribute if the validator instance could not be created from the binding attribute. If
the validatorId attribute is set, call the createValidator() method of the Application instance for
this application, passing validator id specified by their validatorId attribute. If the binding attribute was also set,
store the validator instance by calling binding.setValue(). Register the validator instance by calling
addValidator(). If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a JspException.

9.4.19 <f:valueChangeListener>
Register a ValueChangeListener instance on the UIComponent associated with the closest parent UIComponent
custom action.
Syntax
<f:valueChangeListener type=”fully-qualified-classname” binding=”VB Expression”/>
Body Content
empty.
Attributes
type VE String Fully qualified Java class name of a

ValueChangeListener to be created and
registered
n javax.faces.event.ValueChangeListen
er
Constraints
? The corresponding UIComponent implementation class must implement EditableValueHolder, and therefore
define a public addValueChangeListener() method that accepts an ValueChangeListener parameter.
? The specified listener class must implement javax.faces.event.ValueChangeListener.
? type and/or binding must be specified.
[P1-start f:valueChangeListener constraints] If this tag is not nested inside a UIComponent custom action, or the
UIComponent implementation class does not correctly implement EditableValueHolder, or the specified listener
class does not implement javax.faces.event.ValueChangeListener, throw a JspException. [P1-end]
Note that if the binding attribute is used, the scope of the ValueExpression must be chosen carefully so as not to
introduce undesireable results. In general, when using the binding attribute, do not point to beans in request or narrower
scope.
Description

method of this instance returns true, check the binding attribute.
If binding is non-null, call binding.getValue() to obtain a reference to the ValueChangeListener instance. If

there is no exception thrown, and ValueExpression.getValue() returned a non-null object that implements
javax.faces.event.ValueChangeListener, register it by calling addValueChangeListener(). If there was
an exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a JspException.
instance of the specified class, and register it by calling addValueChangeListener(). If the binding attribute was
also set, store the listener instance by calling binding.setValue(). If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the

As an alternative to using the binding and/or type attributes, you may also register a method in a backing bean class
to receive ValueChangeEvent notifications, by using the valueChangeListener attribute on the corresponding
UIComponent custom action.instantiate an instance of the specified class, and register it by calling
addValueChangeListener().

9.4.20 <f:verbatim>
Register a child UIOutput instance on the UIComponent associated with the closest parent UIComponent custom
action which renders nested body content.
Syntax
<f:verbatim [escape=”{true|false}” rendered=”{true|false”]/>
Body Content
JSP. However, no UIComponent custom actions, or custom actions from the JSF Core Tag Library, may be nested inside
this custom action.
Attributes
escape VE boolean If true, generated markup is escaped in a manner

appropriate for the markup language being
rendered. Default value is false.
rendere VE boolean Flag indicating whether or not this component
d should be rendered (during Render Response
Phase), or processed on any subsequent form
submit. Default value is true.
Constraints
? [P1-start f:verbatim constraints] Must be implemented as a UIComponentBodyTag.[P1-end]
Description

method of this instance returns true, creates a new UIOutput component, and add it as a child of the UIComponent
associated with the located instance. The rendererType property of this UIOutput component must be set to
“javax.faces.Text”, and the transient property must be set to true. Also, the value (or value binding, if it is an
expression) of the escape attribute must be passed on to the renderer as the value the escape attribute on the
UIOutput component.

9.4.21 <f:view>
Container for all JSF core and component custom actions used on a page.
Syntax
<f:view [locale=”locale” renderKitId=”alternate”]

[beforePhase=”methodExpression”]
[afterPhase”methodExpression”]>
Nested template text and custom actions
</f:view>
Body Content
JSP. May contain any combination of template text, other JSF custom actions, and custom actions from other custom tag
libraries.
Attributes
renderKitId VE String The identifier for the render kit to use for
rendering this page.
locale VE String Name of a Locale to use for localizing this page
or (such as en_uk), or value binding expression that
Locale returns a Locale instance
beforePhase ME String MethodExpression expression that points to a
method whose signature is that of
javax.faces.event.PhaseListener.beforePha
se()
afterPhase ME String MethodExpression expression that points to a
method whose signature is that of
javax.faces.event.PhaseListener.afterPhas
e()
Constraints
? [P1-start f:view constraints] Any JSP-created response using actions from the JSF Core Tag Library, as well as actions
extending javax.faces.webapp.UIComponentELTag from other tag libraries, must be nested inside an
occurrence of the <f:view> action.
? JSP page fragments included via the standard <%@ include %> directive need not have their JSF actions
embedded in a <f:view> action, because the included template text and custom actions will be processed as part of
the outer page as it is compiled, and the <f:view> action on the outer page will meet the nesting requirement.
? If the renderKitId attribute is present, its value is stored in UIViewRoot. If the renderKitId attribute is
not present, then the default render kit identifier as returned by Application.getDefaultRenderKitId()is
stored in UIViewRoot if it is not null. Otherwise, the render kit identifier as specified by the constant
RenderKitFactory.HTML_BASIC_RENDER_KIT is stored in UIViewRoot. Specifying a renderKitId
for the current view also affects all subsequent views, unless overridden by another use of the renderKitId
attribute. Please refer to Section 7.6 “ViewHandler” for more information.
? If the locale attribute is present, its value overrides the Locale stored in UIViewRoot, normally set by the
ViewHandler, and the doStartTag() method must store it by calling
UIViewRoot.setLocale().

? The doStartTag() method must call javax.servlet.jsp.jstl.core.Config.set(), passing the
ServletRequest instance for this request, the constant
javax.servlet.jsp.jstl.core.Config.FMT_LOCALE, and the Locale returned by calling
UIViewRoot.getLocale(). [P1-end]
Description
Provides the JSF implementation a convenient place to perform state saving during the render response phase of the
request processing lifecycle, if the implementation elects to save state as part of the response.
? The getComponentType() method must return “ViewRoot”.
? The getRendererType() method must return null.
Please refer to the javadocs for javax.faces.application.StateManager for details on what the tag handler
for this tag must do to implement state saving.

9.5 Standard HTML RenderKit Tag Library
All JSF implementations must provide a tag library containing actions that correspond to each valid combination of a
supported component class (see Chapter 4 “Standard User Interface Components”) and a Renderer from the Standard
HTML RenderKit (see Section 8.6 “Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation”) that supports that component type.
[P1-start html_basic taglib requirements] The tag library descriptor for this tag library must meet the following
requirements:
? Must declare a tag library version (<tlib-version>) value of 1.2.
? Must declare a URI (<uri>) value of http://java.sun.com/jsf/html.
? Must be included in the META-INF directory of a JAR file containing the corresponding implementation classes,
suitable for inclusion with a web application, such that the tag library descriptor will be located automatically by the
algorithm described in Section 7.3 of the JavaServer Pages Specification (version 1.2).[P1-end]
[P1-start html_basic return values]The custom actions defined in this tag library must specify the following return values
for the getComponentType() and getRendererType() methods, respectively:.
TABLE 9-2 Standard HTML RenderKit Tag Library
getComponentType() getRendererType() custom action name
javax.faces.Column (null)* column

javax.faces.HtmlCommand javax.faces.Button commandButton
Button
javax.faces.HtmlCommand javax.faces.Link commandLink
Link
javax.faces.HtmlDataTable javax.faces.Table dataTable
javax.faces.HtmlForm javax.faces.Form form
javax.faces.HtmlGraphicIm javax.faces.Image graphicImage
age
javax.faces.HtmlInputHidd javax.faces.Hidden inputHidden
en
javax.faces.HtmlInputSecre javax.faces.Secret inputSecret
t
javax.faces.HtmlInputText javax.faces.Text inputText
javax.faces.HtmlInputTexta javax.faces.Textarea inputTextarea
rea
javax.faces.HtmlMessage javax.faces.Message message
javax.faces.HtmlMessages javax.faces.Messages messages
javax.faces.HtmlOutputFor javax.faces.Format outputFormat
mat
javax.faces.HtmlOutputLab javax.faces.Label outputLabel
el
javax.faces.HtmlOutputLin javax.faces.Link outputLink
k
javax.faces.Output javax.faces.Body body
javax.faces.Output javax.faces.Head head
javax.faces.Output javax.faces.resource.Script outputScript

TABLE 9-2 Standard HTML RenderKit Tag Library
javax.faces.Output javax.faces.resource.Styles outputStylesheet

heet
javax.faces.HtmlOutputTex javax.faces.Text outputText
t
javax.faces.HtmlPanelGrid javax.faces.Grid panelGrid
javax.faces.HtmlPanelGrou javax.faces.Group panelGroup
p
javax.faces.HtmlSelectBool javax.faces.Checkbox selectBooleanCheckbox
eanCheckbox
javax.faces.HtmlSelectMan javax.faces.Checkbox selectManyCheckbox
yCheckbox
javax.faces.HtmlSelectMan javax.faces.Listbox selectManyListbox
yListbox
javax.faces.HtmlSelectMan javax.faces.Menu selectManyMenu
yMenu
javax.faces.HtmlSelectOne javax.faces.Listbox selectOneListbox
Listbox
javax.faces.HtmlSelectOne javax.faces.Menu selectOneMenu
Menu
javax.faces.HtmlSelectOne javax.faces.Radio selectOneRadio
Radio
* This component has no associated Renderer, so the getRendererType() method must return null instead of a
renderer type.
Note, to avoid confusion between JSP and Facelets, any Renderers that are only supported in Facelets are specified in
Section 10.4.2 “Standard HTML RenderKit Tag Library”.
[P1-end] [P1-start html_basic taglibrary requirements 2]The tag library descriptor for this tag library (and the
corresponding tag handler implementation classes) must meet the following requirements:
? The attributes for the tags, both in the TLD and in the associated tag handlers, must conform exactly to the type,
name, and description given in the VDLDocs for the html_basic tag library.
? If the type of the attribute is javax.el.ValueExpression, the TLD for the attribute must contain a
<deferred-value> with a nested <type> element, inside of which is nested the expected type, as given in the
VDLDocs. The JavaBeans setter method in the tag handler for the tag must be of type
javax.el.ValueExpression.
? If the type of the attribute is javax.el.MethodExpression, the TLD for the attribute must contain a
<deferred-method> with a nested <method-signature>, inside of which is the method signature for that
MethodExpression, as given in the VDLDocs. The actual name of the method in the signature declaration is
immaterial and unspecified. The JavaBeans setter method in the tag handler for the tag must be of type
javax.el.MethodExpression.
? Any attributes listed in the VDLDocs with a request-time value of true must specify an <rtexprvalue> of
true in the TLD.
? The following action must be taken to handle the value of the converter property. If isLiteralText() on the
converter property returns true, get the value of the property and treat it as a converterId by passing it as the
argument to the createConverter() method of the Application instance for this webapp, then pass the
created Converter to the setConverter() method of the component for this tag. If isLiteralText() on the
converter property returns false, call setValueExpression() on the component, passing “converter” as the
name of the ValueExpression and the ValueExpression instance as the value.

? For a non-null action attribute on custom actions related to ActionSource2 components (commandButton,
commandLink), the setProperties() method of the tag handler implementation class must pass the value of the
action attribute, which is a MethodExpression, to the component’s setActionExpression() method.
? For other non-null attributes that correspond to MethodExpression attributes on the underlying components
(actionListener, validator, valueChangeListener), the setProperties() method of the tag handler
implementation class must store that instance as the value of the corresponding component property.
? For any non-null id, scope, or var attribute, the setProperties() method of the tag handler implementation
class must simply set the value of the corresponding component attribute.
? For all other non-null attributes, the setProperties() of the tag handler implementation class method must:
? If the attribute.isLiteralText() returns true, set the corresponding attribute on the underlying
component (after performing any necessary type conversion).
? Otherwise, call the setValueExpression() method on the underlying component, passing the attribute name
and the ValueExpression‘ instance as parameters.[P1-end]

10
Facelets and its use in Web Applications
As of version 2 of this specification, JavaServer Faces implementations must support (although JSF-based applications
need not utilize) using Facelets as the view declaration language for JSF pages. Facelets technology was created by JSR-
252 EG Member Jacob Hookom.
10.1 Non-normative Background

To aid implementors in providing a spec compliant runtime for Facelets, this section provides a non-normative
background to motivate the discussion of the Facelets feature. Facelets is a replacement for JSP that was designed from
the outset with JSF in mind. New features introduced in version 2 and later are only exposed to page authors using
Facelets. JSP is retained for backwards compatibility.
10.1.1 Differences between JSP and Facelets

Facelets was the first non-JSP view declaration language designed for JavaServer Faces. As such, Facelets was able to
provide a simpler and more powerful programming model to JSF developers than that provided by JSP, largely by
leveraging JSF as much as possible without carrying backwards compatibility with JSP. The following table lists some of
the differences between Facelets and JSP
TABLE 10-1 Comparison of Facelets and JSP
Feature Name JSP Facelets
Pages are A Servlet that gets executed each An abstract syntax tree that, when
compiled to... time the page renders. The executed, builds a UIComponent
UIComponent hierarchy is built by hierarchy.
the presence of custom tags in the
page.
Handling of tag All tag attributes must be declared in Tag attributes are completely dynamic
attributes a TLD file. Conformance instances of and automatically map to properties,
components in a page with the attributes and ValueExpressions on
expected attributes can be enforced UIComponent instances
with a taglibrary validator.
Page templating Not supported, must go outside of Page templating is a core feature of
core JSP Facelets
Chapter 10 Facelets and its use in Web Applications 10-1

TABLE 10-1 Comparison of Facelets and JSP
Feature Name JSP Facelets
Performance Due to the common implementation Facelets is simpler and faster than
technique of compiling a JSP page to JSP
a Servlet, performance can be slow
EL Expressions Expressions in template text cause Expressions in template text operate
unexpected behavior when used in as expected.
JSP
JCP Standard Yes, the specification is separate from No, the specification is defined by
the implementation for JSP and is one with the implementation.
10.1.2 Differences between Pre JSF 2.0 Facelets and Facelets in JSF 2.0
The work of taking a snapshot of a version of Facelets and producing the specification for Facelets in JSF 2.0 consists of
extracting the parts of Facelets that are intended to be “public” and leaving the rest as implementation details. A decision
was made early in this process to strive for backwards compatibility between the latest popular version of Facelets and
Facelets in JSF 2.0. The sole determinant to backwards compatibility lies in the answer to the question, “is there any Java
code in the application, or in libraries used by the application, that extends from or depends on any class in package
com.sun.facelets and/or its sub-packages?”
? If the answer to this question is “yes”, Facelets in JSF 2.0 is not backwards compatibile with Facelets and such an
application must continue to bundle the Facelets jar file along with the application, continue to set the Facelets
configuration parameters, and also set the javax.faces.DISABLE_FACELET_JSF_VIEWHANDLER
<context-param> to true. Please see Section 11.1.3 “Application Configuration Parameters” for details on this
option. Any code that extends or depends on any class in package com.sun.facelets and/or its sub-packages
must be modified to depend on the appropriate classes in package javax.faces.webapp.vdl and/or its sub-
packages.
? If the answer to this question is “no”, Facelets in JSF 2.0 is backwards compatible with pre-JSF 2.0 Facelets and such
an application must not continue to bundle the Facelets jar file along with the application, and must not continue to set
the Facelets configuration parameters.
Thankfully, most applications that use Facelets fall into the latter category, or, if they fall in the former, their dependence
will easily be migrated to the new public classes.
Facelets in JSF 2.0 provides tag libraries that are compatible with the following libraries already found in pre JSF 2.0
Facelets.
TABLE 10-2 Taglibs in pre JSF 2.0 Facelets that are available in Facelets in JSF 2.0
Common prefix Namespace URI
h http://java.sun.com/jsf/html
f http://java.sun.com/jsf/core
c http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core
fn http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/functions
ui http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets
Naturally, new features built on Facelets in JSF 2.0 are not available in pre JSF 2.0 Facelets and will only work in JSF
2.0 or later.

10.1.3 Resource Library Contracts Background
JSF defines a system called “resource library contracts” for applying facelet templates to an entire application in a re-
usable and interchangeable manner. The feature is built on top of the resource library facility described in Section 2.6.1.4
“Libraries of Localized and Versioned Resources”. A configurable set of Facelet VDL views in the application will be
able to declare themselves to be template-clients of any template in a resource library contract. Facelet VDL views in the
application can also make use of resources contained in a resource library contract, but the feature has ample value when
only used with templates.
10.1.3.1 Non-normative Example

Consider this resource library contract, called siteLayout.
siteLayout/
topNav_template.xhtml
leftNav_foo.xhtml
styles.css
script.js
background.png
This simple example takes advantage of several conventions built into the feature, most notably the default application
of all available contracts in the application to all views in the application. It is possible to customize how resource library
contracts are applied to the application, including using several different contracts in the same or different parts of the
application. Such customizing is accomplished by including a <resource-library-contracts> element within
the <application> element of the faces-config.xml (or similar) file. Because this example is designed with the
convention in mind, it does not need a faces-config.xml file.
The siteLayout contract offers two templates: topNav_template.xhtml and leftNav_foo.xhtml. For
discussion, these are known as “declared templates”. When used by a template client, they will lay out the template
client’s contents with a navigation menu on the top or the left side of the page, respectively. In siteLayout, each of
the templates has <ui:insert> tags named “title”, “content”, and “nav”. For discussion, these are knows as “declared
insertion points”. Furthermore, each of the templates uses the CSS styles declared in styles.css, some scripts defined
in script.js, and the background image background.png. For discussion, these are known as “declared
resources”. In order to use a resource library contract, one must know its declared templates, their declared insertion
points, and, optionally, their declared resources. No constraint is placed on the naming and arrangement of declared
templates, insertion points, or resources, but all three concepts together can informally be thought of as the declaration of
the resource library contract. The contract declaration of siteLayout can be stated as follows.
siteLayout provides two declared templates, topNav_template.xhtml and
leftNav_foo.xhtml. Each templates offers declared insertion points “title”, “content”, and “nav”.

In this case, the css, script, and image are left out of the contract declaration but this distinction is completely arbitrary.
The important content of topNav_template.xhtml is shown next.
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' ?>

<!DOCTYPE html>
xmlns:ui="http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets"
xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html">
<h:head>
<h:outputStylesheet id="default" name="default.css"
<h:outputStylesheet name="cssLayout.css" />
<title><ui:insert name="title"></ui:insert></title>
</h:head>
<h:body>
<div id="top" class="top">
<p>Top Navigation Menu</p>
<ui:insert name="nav">Nav content</ui:insert>
</div>
<div id="content" class="center_content">
<ui:insert name="content">Content</ui:insert>
</div>
</h:body>
</html>
This example packages the entire siteLayout directory and its contents into the META-INF/contracts entry of a
JAR file named siteLayout.jar. The simplest possible way to use siteLayout is to drop siteLayout.jar
into WEB-INF/lib and apply the knowledge of the resource library contract declaration to the facelet views in the app.
Consider this simple web app, called useContract, the file layout for which is shown next. The example is shown
using a simplified maven war packaging.
useContract/
pom.xml
src/main/webapp/
/WEB-INF/lib/siteLayout.jar
index.xhtml
page2.xhtml
Notice the absence of a faces-config.xml file. Because this example is content to let all the contracts in
siteLayout.jar be applied to all views in the app, this file is not necessary. The two pages are shown next.

index.xhtml.
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html xmlns=”http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml”
xmlns:ui=”http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets”
xmlns:h=”http://java.sun.com/jsf/html”>
<body>
<ui:composition template=”/topNav_template.xhtml”>
<ui:define name=”title”>#{msgs.contactsWindowTitle}</ui:define>
<ui:define name=”content”>
<h:commandButton value=”next” action=”page2” />
</ui:define>
<ui:define name=”nav”>#{msgs.contactsNavMessage}</ui:define>
</ui:composition>
</body>
</html>
page2.xhtml
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
xmlns:ui=”http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets”
<body>
<ui:composition template=”/leftNav_foo.xhtml”>
<ui:define name=”title”>Hard coded title</ui:define>
<ui:define name=”content”>
<h:commandButton value=”back” action=”index” />
</ui:define>
<ui:define name=”nav”>Hard coded nav</ui:define>
</ui:composition>
</body>
</html>
To complete the example, the execution of the useContract app is illustrated.
When useContract.war is deployed, the runtime will discover that siteLayout.jar is a resource library contract
and make its contents available for template clients.
When the user agent visits http://localhost:8080/useContract/faces/index.xhtml, because the

siteLayout resource library contract provides /topNav_template.xhtml, that file will be loaded as the
template. Likewise, when the next button is pressed, /leftNav_foo.xhtml, also from siteLayout,will be
loaded as the template.
Now, consider there is an alternate implementation of the siteLayout contract, packaged as newSiteLayout.jar.
This implementation doesn’t change the contract declaration, but completely changes the arrangement and style of the
views. As long as the contract declaration does not change, useContract can take advantage of newSiteLayout
simply by replacing one JAR in WEB-INF/lib.
10.1.3.2 Non-normative Feature Overview

with this feature.
Design Time

At design time, the developer has packaged any resource library contracts to be used in the application in the right place
in the web application, or JAR file classpath. This behavior is normatively specified in Section 2.7 “Resource Library
Contracts”.
Startup Time
At startup time, the runtime will discover the set of resource library contracts available for this application. If there is
one or more <resource-library-contracts> element, only those contracts explicitly named will be made
available for use in the application. If there is no such element, all of the discovered contracts are made available for use
in the application. This behavior is normatively specified in Section 11.4.2.1 “Resource Library Contracts” and in the
XML schema for the application configuration resources.
Facelet Processing Time
The specification for ViewDeclarationLanguage.createView() requires a call to

ViewDeclarationLanguage.calculateResourceLibraryContracts(), passing the current viewId. This
method will examine the data structure assembled at startup and return a List<String> representing the resource
library contracts eligible for use in this view. This value is set as the value of the resourceLibraryContracts
property on the FacesContext. This behavior is normatively specified in Section 7.7.2.1
“ViewDeclarationLanguage.createView()”.
The specification of the tag handler for <f:view> is the one other place where the resourceLibraryContracts
property may be set. This behavior is normatively specified in the tag handler for <f:view>.
In any <ui:composition> or <ui:decorate> tag reached from that view, it is valid to use any of the templates in
any of the listed contracts as the value of the template attribute. This behavior happens naturally as a side effect of the
requirements of ResourceHandler.createViewResource(), where the implementation of that method is
required to first consult the resourceLibraryContracts property of the current FacesContext. If the value of
the property is non-null and non empty, the implementation must first look for the named view resource within each of
the contracts in the list, and return the first matching one found. Otherwise, the implementation just returns the matching
resource, if found. This behavior is normatively specified in the javadoc for
ResourceHandler.createViewResource().
View Rendering Time
When the view is being rendered, any resources that reside in a resource library contract will have additional metadata
so that a subsequent request from the user agent is able to quickly find the resource inside the named contract. This
behavior is normatively specified in the javadoc for Resource.getRequestPath().
User-Agent Rendering Time
By the point in time that the User-Agent is rendering the view, all of the work related to resource library contracts will
have been completed, but it is worth mentioning that any resources in the page that originate from within resource library
contracts will be correctly fetched.
10.1.4 HTML5 Friendly Markup

Prior to version 2.2 of this specification, the view authoring model relied entirely on the concept of a JSF UI component
in a view as a means to encapsulate arbitrarily complex web user interface code behind a simple UI component tag in a
page. For example, the act of including <my:datePicker value=”#{user.dob}” /> in a view could cause a
large amount of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and images to be delivered to the user agent. This abstraction is very
appropriate when the view author is content to delegate the work of designing the user experience for such components
to a component author. As web designer skills have become more widespread, the need has arisen to expose the hitherto
hidden complexity so the view author has near total control on the user experience of each individual element in the
view. The HTML5 Friendly Markup feature addresses this requirement, as well as providing access to the loosened
attribute syntax also present in HTML5.
This feature is only available to views written in Facelets. It is not available to views written in JSP.

10.1.4.1 Non-normative Feature Overview
with this feature. There are two main aspects to the feature, pass through attributes and pass through elements.
Pass Through Attributes
For any given JSF component tag in a view, the set of available attributes that component supports is determined by a
combination of the UIComponent and Renderer for that tag. In some cases the value of the attribute is interpreted by
the UIComponent or Renderer (for example, the columns attribute of h:panelGrid) and in others the value is
passed straight through to the user agent (for example, the lang attribute of h:inputText). In both cases, the
UIComponent/Renderer has a priori knowledge of the set of allowable attributes. Pass Through Attributes allows
the view author to list arbitrary name value pairs that are passed straight through to the user agent without interpretation
by the UIComponent/Renderer. This behavior is normatively specified in the “Rendering Pass Through Attributes”
section of the overview of the standard HTML_BASIC render kit.
The view author may specify pass through attributes in three ways.
? Nesting the <f:passThroughAttribute> tag within a UIComponent tag. For example,
<h:inputText value=”#{user.name}”>
<f:passThroughAttribute name=”data-sermon” value=”#{pastor.message}” />
</h:inputText>
? Nesting the <f:passThroughAttributes> tag within a UIComponent tag, For example,
<h:inputText value=”#{user.name”>
<f:passThroughAttributes value=”#{service.nameValuePairs}” />
</h:inputText>
The EL expression must point to a Map<String, Object>. If the value is a ValueExpresison call
getValue() the value first. Whether the value is a ValueExpression or not, the value must have its
toString() called on it.
? Prefixing the attribute with the shortname assigned to the http://java.sun.com/jsf/passthrough XML
namespace. For example
<html xmlns:p=”http://java.sun.com/jsf/passthrough”
<h:inputText p:foo=”{bar.baz}” value=”#{user.name}” />
</html>
This behavior is normatively specified in the VDLdoc for <f:passthroughAttribute>, <f:passThroughAttributes> tags
in the “Faces Core” tag library, and the “Pass Through Attributes” tag library.
Pass Through Elements
This feature circumvents the traditional component abstraction model of JSF, allowing the page author nearly complete
control of the rendered markup, without sacrificing any of the server side lifecycle offered by JSF. This is accomplished
by means of enhancements to the Facelet TagDecorator API. This API describes a mapping from the common
markup elements to target tags in the HTML_BASIC RenderKit such that the actual markup specified by the view author
is what gets rendered, but the server side component is an actual component from the HTML_BASIC RenderKit. A
special Renderer is provided to cover cases when none of the mappings specified in TagDecorator fit the incoming
markup. To allow further flexibility, the existing Facelets TagDecorator mechanism allows complete control of the
mapping process. This behavior is normatively specified in the javadocs for class javax.faces.view.facelets.TagDecorator
and in the section “Rendering Pass Through Attributes” in the “General Notes On Encoding” in the Standard
HTML_BASIC RenderKit.

An example will illustrate the mapping process.
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
xmlns:jsf=”http://java.sun.com/jsf”>
<body>
<input type=”number” pattern=”[0-9]*” jsf:value=”#{my.age}” />
</body>
</html>
As required in Section 10.2.1 “Specification of the ViewDeclarationLanguage Implementation for Facelets for JSF 2.0”
TagDecorator is called during the facelet processing. Because the <input> element has an attribute from the
http://java.sun.com/jsf namespace, the system treats the element as a pass through element. The table listed in
the javadocs for TagDecorator is consulted and it is determined that this component should act as an
<h:inputText> component for the purposes of postback processing. However, the rendering is entirely taken from the
markup in the facelet view. Another example illustrates the special Renderer that is used when no mapping can be
found in the table in the javadocs for TagDecorator.
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
xmlns:jsf=”http://java.sun.com/jsf”>
<body>
<meter jsf:id="meter2" min="#{bean.min}" max="#{bean.max}"
value="350">350 degrees</meter>
</body>
</html>
As in the preceding example, the TagDecorator mechanism is activated but it is determined that this component
should act as a <jsf:element> component for the purposes of postback processing. The behavior of the
<jsf:element> is normatively specified in the VDLdoc for that tag. The behavior of the javax.faces.passthrough.Element
renderer is normatively specified in the RenderKitDoc for that renderer.
10.2 Java Programming Language Specification for Facelets in

JSF 2.0
The subsections within this section specify the Java API requirements of a Facelets implementation. Adherence to this
section and the next section, which specifies the XHTML specification for Facelets in JSF 2.0, will ensure applications
and JSF component libraries that make use of Facelets are portable across different implementations of JavaServer Faces.
The original Facelet project did not separate the API and the implementation into separate jars, as is common practice
with JCP specifications. Thus, a significant task for integrating Facelets into JSF 2 was deciding which classes to include
in the public Java API, and which to keep as an implementation detail.
There were two guiding principles that influenced the task of integrating Facelets into JSF 2.
? The original decision in JSF 1.0 to allow the ViewHandler to be pluggable enabled the concept of a View Declaration
Language for JSF. The two most popular ones were Facelets and JSFTemplating. The new integration should preserve
this pluggability, since it is still valuable to be able to replace the View Declaration Language.
? After polling users of Facelets, the expert group decided that most of them were only using the markup based API and
were not extending from the Java classes provided by the Facelet project. Therefore, we decided to keep the Java API
for Facelets in JSF 2 as small as possible, only exposing classes where absolutely necessary.

The application of these principles produced the classes in the package javax.faces.view.facelets. Please
consult the Javadocs for that package, and the classes within it, for additional normative specification.
10.2.1 Specification of the ViewDeclarationLanguage Implementation for

Facelets for JSF 2.0
As normatively specified in the javadocs for
ViewDeclarationLanguageFactory.getViewDeclarationLanguage(), a JSF implementation must
guarantee that a valid and functional ViewDeclarationLanguage instance is returned from this method when the
argument is a refrence to either a JSP view, a Faces XML View or a Facelets View. This section describes the
specification for the Facelets implementation.
public void buildView(FacesContext context,

UIViewRoot root)
throws IOException
The argument root will have been created with a call to either createView() or
ViewMetadata.createMetadataView(). If the root already has non-metadata children, the view must still be re-
built, but care must be taken to ensure that the existing components are correctly paired up with their VDL counterparts
in the VDL page. The implementation must examine the viewId of the argument root, which must resolve to an entity
written in Facelets for JSF 2 markup language. Because Facelets for JSF 2.0 views are written in XHTML, an XML
parser is well suited to the task of processing such an entity. Each element in the XHTML view falls into one of the
following categories, each of which corresponds to an instance of a Java object that implements
javax.faces.view.facelets.FaceletHandler, or a subinterface or subclass thereof, and an instance of
javax.faces.view.facelets.TagConfig, or a subinterface or subclass thereof, which is passed to the
constructor of the object implementing FaceletHandler.
When constructing the TagConfig implementation to be passed to the FaceletHandler implementation, the
runtime must ensure that the instance returned from TagConfig.getTag() has been passed through the tag
decoration process as described in the javadocs for javax.faces.view.facelets.TagDecorator prior to the
TagConfig being passed to the FaceletHandler implementation.
The mapping between the categories of elements in the XHTML view and the appropriate sub-interface or subclass of
FaceletHandler is specified below. Each FaceletHandler instance must be traversed and its apply() method
called in the same depth-first order as in the other lifecycle phase methods in jsf. Each FaceletHandler instance
must use the getNextHandler() method of the TagConfig instance passed to its constructor to perform the
traversal starting from the root FaceletHandler.
? Standard XHTML markup elements
These are declared in the XHTML namespace http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml. Such elements should be
passed through as is to the rendered output.
These elements correspond to instances of javax.faces.view.facelets.TextHandler. See the javadocs
for that class for the normative specification.
? Markup elements that represent UIComponent instance in the view.
These elements can come from the Standard HTML Renderkit namespace
http://java.sun.com/jsf/html, or from the namespace of a custom tag library (including composite
components) as described in Section 10.3.2 “Facelet Tag Library mechanism”.
These elements correspond to instances of javax.faces.view.facelets.ComponentHandler. See the
javadocs for that class for the normative specification.
? Markup elements that take action on their parent or children markup element(s). Usually these come from the JSF
Core namespace http://java.sun.com/jsf/core, but they can also be provided by a custom tag library.

Such elements that represent an attached object must correspond to an appropriate subclass of
javax.faces.view.facelets.FaceletsAttachedObjectHandler. The supported subclasses are
specified in the javadocs.
Such elements that represent a facet component must correspond to an instance of
javax.faces.component.FacetHandler.
Such elements that represent an attribute that must be pushed into the parent UIComponent element must
correspond to an instance of javax.facelets.view.facelets.AttributeHandler.
? Markup Elements that indicate facelet templating, as specified in the VDL Docs for the namespace
http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets.
Such elements correspond to an instance of javax.faces.view.facelets.TagHandler.
? Markup elements from the Facelet version of the JSTL namespaces http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core
or http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/functions, as specified in the VDL Docs for those namespaces.
Such elements correspond to an instance of javax.faces.view.facelets.TagHandler.
10.3 XHTML Specification for Facelets for JSF 2.0
10.3.1 General Requirements

[P1-start_facelet_xhtml]Facelet pages are authored in XHTML. The runtime must support all XHTML pages that
conform to the XHTML-1.0-Transitional DTD, as described at
http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/#a_dtd_XHTML-1.0-Transitional.
The runtime must ensure that EL expressions that appear in the page without being the right-hand-side of a tag attribute
are treated as if they appeared on the right-hand-side of the value attribute of an <h:outputText /> element in the
http://java.sun.com/jsf/html namespace. This behavior must happen regardless of whether or not the
http://java.sun.com/jsf/html namespace has been declared in the page.
10.3.1.1 DOCTYPE and XML Declaration

When processing Facelet VDL files, the system must ensure that at most one XML declaration and at most one
DOCTYPE declaration appear in the rendered markup, if and only if there is corresponding markup in the Facelet VDL
files for those elements. If multiple occurrences of XML declaration and DOCTYPE declaration are encountered when
processing Facelet VDL files, the “outer-most” occurrence is the one that must be rendered. If an XML declaration is
present, it must be the very first markup rendered, and it must precede any DOCTYPE declaration (if present). The
output of the XML and DOCTYPE declarations are subject to the configuration options listed in the table titled “Valid
<process-as> values and their implications on the processing of Facelet VDL files” in Section 1.1.1.1 “The facelets-
processing element”.
[P1-end_facelet_xhtml]
10.3.2 Facelet Tag Library mechanism

Facelets leverages the XML namespace mechanism to support the concept of a “tag library” analogous to the same
concept in JSP. However, in Facelets, the role of the tag handler java class is greatly reduced and in most cases is
unnecessary. The tag library mechanism has two purposes.
? Allow page authors to access tags declared in the supplied tag libraries declared in Section 10.4 “Standard Facelet Tag
Libraries”, as well as accessing third-party tag libraries developed by the application author, or any other third party

? Define a framework for component authors to group a collection of custom UIComponents into a tag library and
expose them to page authors for use in their pages.
[P1_start_facelet_taglib_decl]The runtime must support the following syntax for making the tags in a tag library
available for use in a Facelet page.
xmlns:prefix="namespace_uri">
Where prefix is a page author chosen arbitrary string used in the markup inside the <html> tag to refer to the tags
declared within the tag library and namespace_uri is the string declared in the <namespace> element of the facelet
tag library descriptor. For example, declaring xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html" within the <html>
element in a Facelet XHTML page would cause the runtime to make all tags declared in Section 10.4.2 “Standard HTML
RenderKit Tag Library” to be available for use in the page using syntax like: <h:inputText />.
The unprefixed namespace, also known as the root namespace, must be passed through without modification or check for
validity. The passing through of the root namespace must occur on any non-prefixed element in a facelet page. For
example, the following markup declaration:.
xmlns:h="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html">
<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML">
<msup>
<msqrt>
<mrow>
<mi>a</mi>
<mo>+</mo>
<mi>b</mi>
</mrow>
</msqrt>
<mn>27</mn>
</msup>
</math>
would be rendered as
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML">
<msup>
<msqrt>
<mrow>
<mi>a</mi>
<mo>+</mo>
<mi>b</mi>
</mrow>
</msqrt>
<mn>27</mn>
</msup>
</math>
[P1_end_facelet_taglib_decl]

[P1_start_facelet_taglib_discovery]The run time must support two modes of discovery for Facelet tag library descriptors
? Via declaration in the web.xml, as specified in Section 11.1.3 “Application Configuration Parameters”
? Via auto discovery by placing the tag library discriptor file within a jar on the web application classpath, naming the
file so that it ends with “.taglib.xml”, without the quotes, and placing the file in the META-INF directory in the
jar file.
The discovery of tag library files must happen at application startup time and complete before the application is placed
in service. Failure to parse, process and otherwise interpret any of the tag library files discovered must cause the
application to fail to deploy and must cause an informative error message to be
logged.[P1_end_facelet_taglib_discovery]
The specification for how to interpret a facelet tag library descriptor is included in the documentation elements of the
schema for such files, see Section 1.2 “XML Schema Definition For Facelet Taglib”.
10.3.3 Requirements specific to composite components

The text in this section makes use of the terms defined in Section 3.6.1.6 “Composite Component Terms”. When such a
term appears in this section, it will be in emphasis font face.
10.3.3.1 Declaring a composite component library for use in a Facelet page

[P1_start_composite_library_decl]The runtime must support the following two ways of declaring a composite component
library.
? If a facelet taglibrary is declared in an XHTML page with a namespace starting with the string
“http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite/” (without the quotes), the remainder of the namespace declaration
is taken as the name of a resource library as described in Section 2.6.1.4 “Libraries of Localized and Versioned
Resources”, as shown in the following example:
The runtime must look for a resource library named ezcomp. If the substring following
“http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite/” contains a “/” character, or any characters not legal for a library
name the following action must be taken. If application.getProjectStage() is Development an
informative error message must be placed in the page and also logged. Otherwise the message must be logged only.
? As specified in facelet taglibrary schema, the runtime must also support the <composite-library-name>
element. The runtime must interpret the contents of this element as the name of a resource library as described in
Section 2.6.1.4 “Libraries of Localized and Versioned Resources”. If a facelet tag library descriptor file is encountered
that contains this element, the runtime must examine the <namespace> element in that same tag library descriptor
and make it available for use in an XML namespace declaration in facelet pages.[P1_end_composite_library_decl]
10.3.3.2 Creating an instance of a top level component

[P1_start_top_level_component_creation]If, during the process of building the view, the facelet runtime encounters an
element in the page using the prefix for the namespace of a composite component library, the runtime must create a
Resource instance with a library property equal to the library name derived in Section 10.3.3.1 “Declaring a composite
component library for use in a Facelet page”and call the variant of application.createComponent() that takes
a Resource.

After causing the top level component to be instantiated, the runtime must create a UIComponent with component-
family of javax.faces.Panel and renderer-type javax.faces.Group to be installed as a facet of the top level
component under the facet name UIComponent.COMPOSITE_FACET_NAME.[P1_end_top_level_component_creation]
10.3.3.3 Populating a top level component instance with children

[P1_start_top_level_component_population]As specified in Section 3.6.1.3 “How does one make a composite
component?” the runtime must support the use of composite: tag library in the defining page pointed to by the
Resource derived as specified in Section 10.3.3.2 “Creating an instance of a top level component”.
[P1_start_top_level_component_population]The runtime must ensure that all UIComponent children in the composite
component definition within the defining page are placed as children of the
UIComponent.COMPOSITE_FACET_NAME facet of the top level facet.[P1_end_top_level_component_population]
Please see the tag library documentation for the <composite:insertChildren> and
<composite:insertFacet> tags for details on these two tags that are relevant to populating a top level component
instance with children.
Special handling is required for attributes declared on the composite component tag instance in the using page.
[P1_start_composite_component_tag_attributes]The runtime must ensure that all such attributes are copied to the
attributes map of the top level component instance in the following manner.
? Obtain a reference to the ExpressionFactory, for discussion called expressionFactory.
? Let the value of the attribute in the using page be value.
? If value is “id” or “binding” without the quotes, skip to the next attribute.
? If the value of the attribute starts with “#{“ (without the quotes) call
expressionFactory.createValueExpression(elContext, value, Object.class)
? If the value of the attribute does not start with “#{“, call
expressionFactory.createValueExpression(value, Object.class)
? If there already is a key in the map for value, inspect the type of the value at that key. If the type is
MethodExpression take no action. [P1_end_composite_component_tag_attributes]
For code that handles tag attributes on UIComponent XHTML elements special action must be taken regarding
composite components. [P1_start_composite_component_method_expression]If the type of the attribute is a
MethodExpression, the code that takes the value of the attribute and creates an actual MethodExpression
instance around it must take the following special action. Inspect the value of the attribute. If the EL expression string
starts with the cc implicit object, is followed by the special string “attrs” (without the quotes), as specified in
Section 5.6.2.2 “Composite Component Attributes ELResolver”, and is followed by a single remaining expression
segment, let the value of that remaining expression segment be attrName. In this case, the runtime must guarantee that
the actual MethodExpression instance that is created for the tag attribute have the following behavior in its
invoke() method.
? Obtain a reference to the current composite component by calling
UIComponent.getCurrentCompositeComponent().
? Look in the attribute of the component for a key under the value attrName.
? There must be a value and it must be of type MethodExpression. If either of these conditions are false allow
the ensuing exception to be thrown.
? Call invoke() on the discovered MethodExpression, passing the arguments passed to our invoke()
method.[P1_end_composite_component_method_expression]
[P1_start_composite_component_retargeting]Once the composite component has been populated with children, the
runtime must ensure that ViewHandler.retargetAttachedObjects() and then
ViewHandler.retargetMethodExpressions() is called, passing the top level
component.[P1_end_composite_component_retargeting] The actions taken in these methods set the stage for the tag
attribute behavior and the special MethodExpression handling behavior described previously.
[P1_start_nested_composite_components]The runtime must support the inclusion of composite components within the
composite component definition. [P1_end_nested_composite_components].

10.4 Standard Facelet Tag Libraries
This section specifies the tag libraries that must be provided by an implementation.
10.4.1 JSF Core Tag Library

This tag library must be equivalent to the one specified in Section 9.4 “JSF Core Tag Library”.
For all of the tags that correspond to attached objects, the Facelets implementation supportes an additional attribute, for,
which is intended for use when the attached object tag exists within a composite component. If present, this attribute
refers to the value of one of the exposed attached objects within the composite component inside of which this tag is
nested.
The following additional tags apply to the Facelet Core Tag Library only.
10.4.1.1 <f:ajax>
This tag serves two roles depending on its placement. If this tag is nested within a single component, it will associate an
Ajax action with that component. If this tag is placed around a group of components it will associate an Ajax action with
all components that support the “events” attribute. In there is an outer
Syntax
<f:ajax [event=”Literal”] [execute=”Literal | Value Expression”] [render=”Literal | Value Expression”] [onevent=”Literal
| Value Expression”] [onerror=”Literal | Value Expression”] | [listener=”Method Expression”] [disabled=”Literal|Value
Expression”] [immediate=”Literal|ValueExpression]/>
Body Content
empty.

Attributes
The following optional attributes are available:
TABLE 10-3
event String String A String identifying the type of event the Ajax
action will apply to. If specified, it must be one of
the events supported by the component the Ajax
behavior is being applied to. If not specified, the
default event is determined for the component. The
default event is “action” for ActionSource
components and “valueChange” for
EditableValueHolder components.
execute VE Collection<S If a literal is specified, it must be a space delimited
tring> String of component identifiers and/or one of the
keywords outlined in Section 14.2.2 “Keywords”.
If not specified, then @this is the default. If a
ValueExpression is specified, it must refer to a
property that returns a Collection of Strings. Each
String in the Collection must not contain spaces.
render VE Collection<S If a literal is specified, it must be a space delimited
tring> String of component identifiers and/or one of the
keywords outlined in Section 14.2.2 “Keywords”.
If not specified, then @none is the default . If a
ValueExpression is specified, it must refer to a
property that returns a Collection of Strings. Each
String in the Collection must not contain spaces.
onevent VE String The name of a JavaScript function that will handle
events
onerror VE String The name of a JavaScript function that will handle
errors.
disabled VE boolean “false” indicates the Ajax behavior script should
be rendered; “true” indicates the Ajax behavior
script should not be rendered. “false” is the
default.
listener ME MethodExpr The listener method to execute when Ajax requests
ession are processed on he server.
immediate VE boolean If “true” behavior events generated from this
behavior are broadcast during Apply Request
Values phase. Otherwise, the events will be
broadcast during Invoke Aplications phase.
Specifying “execute”/”render” Identifiers

The String value for identifiers specified for execute and render may be specified as a search expression as outlined
in the JavaDocs for UIComponent.findComponent. [P1_start_execrenderIds]The implementation must resolve these
identifiers as specified for UIComponent.findComponent.[P1_end]

Constraints
This tag may be nested within any of the standard HTML components. It may also be nested within any custom
component that implements the ClientBehaviorHolder interface. Refer to Section 3.7 “Component Behavior Model” for
more information about this interface. [P1_start_ajaxtag_events]A TagAttibuteException must be thrown if an “event”
attribute value is specified that does not match the events supported by the component type. [P1_end_ajaxtag_events]
For example:
<h:commandButton ..>
<f:ajax event=”valueChange”/>
</h:commandButton id=”button1” ...>
An attempt is made to apply a “valueChange” Ajax event to an “action” component. This is invalid and the Ajax
behavior will not be applied. [P1_start_bevent]The event attribute that is specified, must be one of the events returned
from the ClientBehaviorHolder component implementation of ClientBehaviorHolder.getEventNames. If an event is not
specified the value returned from the component implementation of ClientBehaviorHolder.getDefaultEventName must be
used. If the event is still not determined, a TagAttributeException must be thrown.[P1_end]
This tag may also serve to “ajaxify” regions of a page by nesting a group of components within it:
<f:ajax>
<h:panelGrid>
<h:inputText id=”text1”/>
<h:commandButton id=”button1”/>
</h:panelGrid>
</f:ajax>
From this example, “text1” and “button1” will have ajax behavior applied to them. The default events for these
components would cause Ajax requests to fire. For “text1” a “valueChange” event would apply and for “button1” an
“action” event would apply. <h:panelGrid> has no default event so in this case a behavior would not be applied.
<f:ajax event=”click”>
<h:panelGrid id=”grid1”>
<h:inputText id=”text1”/>
<h:commandButton id=”button1”>
<f:ajax event=”mouseover”/>
</h:commandButton>
</h:panelGrid>
</f:ajax>
From this example, “grid1” and “text1” would have ajax behavior applied for an “onclick” event. “button1” would have
ajax behavior applied for both “mouseover” and “onclick” events. The “oncick” event is a supported event type for
PanelGrid components.
<f:ajax>
<f:ajax/>
</h:commandButton>
</f:ajax>

For this example, the inner <f:ajax/> would apply to “button1”. The outer (wrapping) <f:ajax> would not be applied,
since it is the same type of submitting behavior (AjaxBehavior) and the same event type (action).
<f:ajax event=”click”>
<h:inputText id=”text1”>
<f:ajax event=”click”/>
</h:inputText>
</f:ajax>
For this example, since the event types are the same, the inner <f:ajax> event overrides the outer one.
<f:ajax event=”action”>
<b:greet event=”action”/>
</h:commandButton>
</f:ajax>
Here, there is a custom behavior “greet” attached to “button1”. the outer <f:ajax> Ajax behavior will also get applied to
“button1”. But it will be applied *after* the “greet” behavior.
Description
Enable one or more components in the view to perform Ajax operations. This tag handler must create an instance of
javax.faces.component.behavior.AjaxBehavior instance using the tag attribute values. If this tag is nested within a single
ClientBehaviorHolder component:
? If the event attribute is not specified, determine the event by calling the component’s getDefaultEventName method.
If that returns null, throw an exception.
? If the event attribute is specified, ensure that it is a valid event - that is one of the events contained in the Collection
returned from getEventNames method. If it does not exist in this Collection, throw an exception.
? Add the AjaxBehavior to the component by calling the addBehavior method, passing the event and AjaxBehavior
instance.
If this tag is wrapped around component children add the AjaxBehavior instance to the data structure holding the
behaviors for that component. As subsequent child components that implement the BehaviorHolder interface are
evaluated, this AjaxBehavior instance must be added as a Behavior to the component. Please refer to the Javadocs for the
core tag handler AjaxHandler for additional requirements.
Examples
Apply Ajax to “button1” and “text1”:
<f:ajax>
<h:form>
<h:commandButton id=”button1” ...>
<h:inputText id=”text1” ..>
</h:form>
</f:ajax>

Apply Ajax to “text1”:
<f:ajax event=”valueChange”>
<h:form>
</h:form>
</f:ajax>
Apply Ajax to “button1”:
<f:ajax event=”action”>
<h:form>
</h:form>
</f:ajax>
Override default Ajax action. “button1” is associated with the Ajax “execute=’cancel’” action:
<f:ajax event=”action” execute=”reset”>

<h:form>
<f:ajax execute=”cancel”/>
</h:commandButton>
</h:form>
</f:ajax>
10.4.1.2 <f:event>
Allow JSF page authors to install ComponentSystemEventListener instances on a component in a page. Because
this tag is closely tied to the event system, please see section Section 3.4.3.4 “Declarative Listener Registration” for the
normative specification.
10.4.1.3 <f:metadata>
Register a facet on the parent component, which must be the UIViewRoot. This must be a child of the <f:view>.
This tag must reside within the top level XHTML file for the given viewId, not in a template. The implementation must
ensure that the direct child of the facet is a UIPanel, even if there is only one child of the facet. The implementation
must set the id of the UIPanel to be the value of the UIViewRoot.METADATA_FACET_NAME symbolic constant.
10.4.1.4 <f:validateBean>
Register a BeanValidator instance on the parent EditableValueHolder UIComponent or the EditableValueHolder
UIComponent whose client id matches the value of the "for" attribute when used within a composite component. If
neither criteria is satisfied, save the validation groups in an attribute on the parent UIComponent to be used as defaults
inherited by any BeanValidator in that branch of the component tree. Don't save the validation groups string if it is null
or empty string. If the validationGroups attribute is not defined on this tag when used in an EditableValueHolder, or the
value of the attribute is empty string, attempt to inherit the validation groups from the nearest parent component on
which a set of validation groups is stored. If no validation groups are inherited, assume the Default validation group,

javax.validation.groups.Default. If the BeanValidator is one of the default validators, then this tag simply specializes the
validator by providing the list of validation groups to be used. There are two usage patterns for this tag, both shown
below. The tags surrounding and nested within the <f:validateBean> tag, as well as the attributes of the tag itself,
are show for illustrative purposes only.
Syntax
<h:inputText value=”#{model.property}”>
<f:validateBean validationGroups=
"javax.validation.groups.Default,app.validation.groups.Order"/>
</h:inputText>
or
<h:form>
<f:validateBean>
<h:inputText value=”#{model.property}” />
<h:selectOneRadio value=”#{model.radioProperty}” > ... </h:selectOneRadio>

</f:validateBean>
</h:form>
Body Content
Empty in the case when the Bean Validator is to be registered on a parent component.
Filled with input components when the Bean Validator is to be set on all of the ensclosing input components.
Attributes
Name Exp Type Description
binding VE ValueEx A ValueExpression that evaluates

pressio to an object that implements
n javax.faces.validate.BeanValidat
or
disabled VE Boolean A flag which indicates whether

this validator, or a default
validator with the id
"javax.faces.Bean", should be
permitted to be added to this
component
validation VE String A comma-delimited of type-safe

Groups validation groups that are passed
to the Bean Validation API when
validating the value
Constraints
Must be nested in an EditableValueHolder or nested in a composite component and have a for attribute. Otherwise, it
simply defines enables or disables the validator as a default for the branch of the component tree under the parent
component and/or sets the validation group defaults for the branch. No exception is thrown if one of the first two
conditions are not met, unlike other standard validators.
Description
? Must use or extend the javax.faces.view.facelets.ValidatorHandler class

? If not within an EditableValueHolder or composite component, store the validation groups as defaults for the current
branch of the component tree, but only if the value is a non-empty string.
? If the disabled attribute is true, the validator should not be added. In addition, the validatorId, if present, should be
added to an exclusion list on the parent component to prevent a default validator with the same id from being
registered on the component.
? If binding is non-null, create a ValueExpression by invoking Application.createValueExpression() with binding as
the expression argument, and Validator.class as the expectedType argument. Use the ValueExpression to obtain a
reference to the Validator instance. If there is no exception thrown, and ValueExpression.getValue() returned a non-
null object that implements javax.faces.validator.Validator, it must then cast the returned instance to
javax.faces.validator.BeanValidator, configure its properties based on the specified attributes, and return the
configured instance. If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a TagException.
? Use the validatorId if the validator instance could not be created from the binding attribute. Call the
createValidator() method of the Application instance for this application, passing validator id "javax.faces.Bean". If
the binding attribute was also set, evaluate the expression into a ValueExpression and store the validator instance
by calling setValue() on the ValueExpression. It must then cast the returned instance to
javax.faces.validator.BeanValidator, configure its properties based on the specified attributes, and return the
10.4.1.5 <f:validateRequired>
Register a RequiredValidator instance on the parent EditableValueHolder UIComponent or the EditableValueHolder
UIComponent whose client id matches the value of the "for" attribute when used within a composite component.
Syntax
<f:validateRequired/>
Body Content
empty
Attributes
binding VE ValueEx A ValueExpression that evaluates

pressio to an object that implements
n javax.faces.validate.RequiredVal
idator

"javax.faces.Required", should
be permitted to be added to this
component
Constraints

Must be nested in an EditableValueHolder or nested in a composite component and have a for attribute (Facelets only).
Otherwise, it simply enables or disables the use of the validator as a default for the branch of the component tree under
the parent. No exception is thrown if one of the first two conditions are not met, unlike other standard validators.
Description
? Must use or extend the javax.faces.view.facelets.ValidatorHandler class
? If the disabled attribute is true, the validator should not be added. In addition, the validatorId, if present, should be
added to an exclusion list on the parent component to prevent a default validator with the same id from being
registered on the component
? If binding is non-null, create a ValueExpression by invoking Application.createValueExpression() with binding as
the expression argument, and Validator.class as the expectedType argument. Use the ValueExpression to obtain a
reference to the Validator instance. If there is no exception thrown, and ValueExpression.getValue() returned a non-
null object that implements javax.faces.validator.Validator, it must then cast the returned instance to
javax.faces.validator.RequiredValidator, configure its properties based on the specified attributes, and return the
configured instance. If there was an exception thrown, rethrow the exception as a TagException..
? Use the validatorId if the validator instance could not be created from the binding attribute. Call the
"javax.faces.Required". If the binding attribute was also set, evaluate the expression into a ValueExpression and
store the validator instance by calling setValue() on the ValueExpression. It must then cast the returned instance to
javax.faces.validator.RequiredValidator, configure its properties based on the specified attributes, and return the
10.4.1.6 <f:validateWholeBean>
Support multi-field validation by enabling class-level bean validation on CDI based backing beans.
Syntax

<f:validateWholeBean value="#{model}"
validationGroups="fully.qualified.class.Name"/>
Body Content
empty

Attributes

"javax.faces.Required", should
be permitted to be added to this
component
validation VE String A comma-delimited of type-safe

Groups validation groups that are passed
to the Bean Validation API when
validating the value
value VE Object A ValueExpression referencing the

bean to be validated.
Constraints
This tag must be placed in the component tree after all of the fields that are to be included in the multi-field validation.
If this precondition is not met, the results of applying this tag are unspecified.
Description
? See the VDLDoc for <f:validateWholeBean /> for the normative specification and a usage example.
10.4.1.7 <f:websocket>
This tag registers a websocket push connection at the client side by rendering the necessary scripts. Push messages can
be sent from server side via javax.faces.push.PushContext interface which is injected into a using class with
the @javax.faces.push.Push CDI qualifier.
Tip – <f:websocket> is desgined for push from server to client
Although W3C WebSocket supports two-way communication, the <f:websocket> push is designed for one-way
communication, from server to client. In case you intend to send some data from client to server, continue using JSF
ajax the usual way. This has among others the advantage of maintaining the JSF view state, the HTTP session and,
critically, all security constraints on business service methods.
Syntax
<f:websocket [binding="ValueExpression"] [id="Literal|ValueExpression"]
channel="Literal" [scope="Literal"] [user="Literal|ValueExpression"]
[onopen="Literal|ValueExpression"] [onmessage="Literal|ValueExpression"]
[onclose="Literal|ValueExpression"] [connected="Literal|ValueExpression"]
[rendered="Literal|ValueExpression"] />

Body Content
Empty, or one or more <f:ajax> tags with the event attribute set to exactly the push message content.
Attributes
The following required attribute must be set:
TABLE 10-4
channel String String The name of the websocket channel. It may not be
an EL expression and it may only contain
alphanumeric characters, hyphens, underscores and
periods. All open websockets on the same channel
name will receive the same push notification from
the server.
The following optional attributes are available:

TABLE 10-5
id VE String Component identifier of the UIWebSocket

component to be created.
scope Str String The scope of the websocket channel. It may not
ing be an EL expression and allowed values are
application, session and view, case
insensitive. When the value is application,
then all channels with the same name throughout
the application will receive the same push
message. When the value is session, then only
the channels with the same name in the current
user session will receive the same push message.
When the value is view, then only the channel in
the current view will receive the push message.
The default scope is application. When the
user attribute is specified, then the default
scope is session.
user VE Seriali The user identifier of the websocket channel, so

zable that user-targeted push messages can be sent. It
must implement Serializable and preferably
have low memory footprint. Suggestion: use
#{request.remoteUser} or
#{someLoggedInUser.id}. All open
websockets on the same channel and user will
receive the same push message from the server.
onopen VE String The JavaScript event handler function that is

invoked when the websocket is opened. The
function will be invoked with one argument: the
channel name.

onmessage VE String The JavaScript event handler function that is

invoked when a push message is received from
the server. The function will be invoked with
three arguments: the push message, the channel
name and the raw MessageEvent itself.
onclose VE String The JavaScript event handler function that is

invoked when the websocket is closed. The
function will be invoked with three arguments:
the close reason code, the channel name and the
raw CloseEvent itself. Note that this will also
be invoked on errors and that you can inspect
the close reason code if an error occurred and
which one (i.e. when the code is not 1000). See
also RFC 6455 section 7.4.1 and
javax.websocket.CloseReason.CloseCod
es API for an elaborate list of all close codes.
connected VE Boolean Whether to (auto)connect the websocket or not.

Defaults to true. It's interpreted as a JavaScript
instruction whether to open or close the
websocket push connection. This attribute is
implicitly re-evaluated on every ajax request by
a PreRenderViewEvent listener on the
UIViewRoot. You can also explicitly set it to
false and then manually control in JavaScript
by jsf.push.open(clientId) and
jsf.push.close(clientId).
rendered VE Boolean Whether to render the websocket scripts or not.

Defaults to true. This attribute is implicitly re-
evaluated on every ajax request by a
PreRenderViewEvent listener on the
UIViewRoot. If the value changes to false
while the websocket is already opened, then the
websocket will implicitly be closed.
binding VE UICompo Value binding expression to a backing bean

nent property bound to the component instance for the
UIComponent created by this tag.
Configuration
First, enable the websocket endpoint using the context parameter:
<context-param>
<param-name>javax.faces.ENABLE_WEBSOCKET_ENDPOINT</param-name>
<param-value>true</param-value>
</context-param>

In case your server is configured to run a WebSocket container on a different TCP port than the HTTP
container, then you can use the optional javax.faces.WEBSOCKET_ENDPOINT_PORT integer context
parameter in web.xml to explicitly specify the port.
<context-param>
<param-name>javax.faces.WEBSOCKET_ENDPOINT_PORT</param-name>
<param-value>8000</param-value>
</context-param>
Usage (client)
Declare <f:websocket> tag in the JSF view with at least a channel name and an onmessage JavaScript listener function.
The channel name may not be an EL expression and it may only contain alphanumeric characters, hyphens, underscores
and periods.
Here's an example which refers an existing JavaScript listener function.
<f:websocket channel="someChannel"
onmessage="someWebsocketListener" />
function someWebsocketListener(message, channel, event) {

console.log(message);
}
Here’s an example which declares an inline JavaScript listener function.
onmessage="function(m){console.log(m);}" />
The onmessage JavaScript listener function will be invoked with three arguments:
1. message: the push message as JSON object.
2. channel: the channel name.
3. event: the raw MessageEvent instance.
When successfully connected, the websocket is by default open as long as the document is open, and it will
auto-reconnect at increasing intervals when the connection is closed/aborted as result of e.g. a network
error or server restart. It will not auto-reconnect when the very first connection attempt already fails. The
websocket will be implicitly closed once the document is unloaded.

Usage (server)
On the Java programming side, you can inject a PushContext via @Push annotation on the given channel
name in any CDI/container managed artifact, such as @Named, @WebServlet, wherever you'd like to send a
push message and then invoke PushContext.send(Object) with any Java object representing the push
message.
@Inject @Push
private PushContext someChannel;
public void sendMessage(Object message) {

someChannel.send(message);
}
By default the name of the channel is taken from the name of the variable into which injection takes place.
The channel name can be optionally specified via the channel attribute. The example below injects the
push context for channel name foo into a variable named bar.
@Inject @Push(channel="foo")
private PushContext bar;
The message object will be encoded as JSON and be delivered as message argument of the onmessage JavaScript listener
function associated with the channel name. It can be a plain vanilla String, but it can also be a collection, map and even
a Java bean.
Scopes and Users

By default the websocket is application scoped, i.e. any view/session throughout the web application having the same
websocket channel open will receive the same push message. The push message can be sent by all users and the
application itself.
The optional scope attribute can be set to session to restrict the push messages to all views in the current user session
only. The push message can only be sent by the user itself and not by the application.
<f:websocket channel="someChannel" scope="session" ... />
The scope attribute can also be set to view to restrict the push messages to the current view only. The push message will
not show up in other views in the same session even if it's the same URL. The push message can only be sent by the user
itself and not by the application..
<f:websocket channel="someChannel" scope="view" ... />
The scope attribute may not be an EL expression and allowed values are application, session and view, case
insensitive.
Additionally, the optional user attribute can be set to the unique identifier of the logged-in user, usually the login name
or the user ID. This way the push message can be targeted to a specific user and can also be sent by other users and the
application itself. The value of the user attribute must at least implement Serializable and have a low memory
footprint, so an entire user entity is not recommended.

E.g. when you're using container managed authentication or a related framework/library:.
user="#{request.remoteUser}" ... />
Or when you have a custom user entity accessible via EL, such as as #{someLoggedInUser} which has
an id property representing its identifier:.
user="#{someLoggedInUser.id}" ... />
When the user attribute is specified, then the scope defaults to session and cannot be set to application.
On the server side, the push message can be targeted to the user specified in the user attribute via
PushContext.send(Object, Serializable). The push message can be sent by all users and the
application itself..
@Inject @Push
private PushContext someChannel;
public void sendMessage(Object message, User recipientUser) {

Long recipientUserId = recipientUser.getId();
someChannel.send(message, recipientUserId);
}
Multiple users can be targeted by passing a Collection holding user identifiers to

PushContext.send(Object, Collection). .
public void sendMessage(Object message, Group recipientGroup) {

Collection<Long> recipientUserIds =
recipientGroup.getUserIds();
someChannel.send(message, recipientUserIds);
}
Conditionally Connecting
You can use the optional connected attribute to control whether to auto-connect the websocket or not..
<f:websocket ... connected="#{bean.pushable}" />
The connected attribute defaults to true and is interpreted as a JavaScript instruction whether to open
or close the websocket push connection. If the value is an EL expression and it becomes false during
an ajax request, then the push connection will explicitly be closed during oncomplete of that ajax
request.

You can also explicitly set it to false and manually open the push connection in client side by invoking
jsf.push.open(clientId), passing the component's client ID..
<h:commandButton ... onclick="jsf.push.open('foo')">

<f:ajax ... />
</h:commandButton>
<f:websocket id="foo" channel="bar" scope="view" ...
connected="false" />
In case you intend to have an one-time push and don’t expect more messages, you can optionally
explicitly close the push connection from client side by invoking jsf.push.close(clientId), passing
the component’s client ID. For example, in the onmessage JavaScript listener function as below: .
function someWebsocketListener(message) {
// ...
jsf.push.close('foo');
}
Events (client)
The optional onopen JavaScript listener function can be used to listen on open of a websocket in client
side. This will be invoked on the very first connection attempt, regardless of whether it will be
successful or not. This will not be invoked when the websocket auto-reconnects a broken connection
after the first successful connection.
<f:websocket ... onopen="websocketOpenListener" />
function websocketOpenListener(channel) {
// ...
}
The onopen JavaScript listener function will be invoked with one argument:
1. channel: the channel name, useful in case you intend to have a global listener.
The optional onclose JavaScript listener function can be used to listen on a normal or abnormal close of
a websocket. This will be invoked when the very first connection attempt fails, or the server has returned
close reason code 1000 (normal closure) or 1008 (policy violated), or the maximum reconnect attempts
has been exceeded. This will not be invoked when the websocket can make an auto-reconnect attempt on
a broken connection after the first successful connection
<f:websocket ... onclose="websocketCloseListener" />
function websocketCloseListener(code, channel, event) {

if (code == -1) {
// Websockets not supported by client.
} else if (code == 1000) {
// Normal close (as result of expired session or view).
} else {
// Abnormal close reason (as result of an error).
}
}

The onclose JavaScript listener function will be invoked with three arguments:
1. code: the close reason code as integer. If this is -1, then the websocket is simply not supported by the client. If this
is 1000, then it was normally closed. Otherwise, if this is not 1000, then there may be an error. See also RFC 6455
section 7.4.1 and javax.websocket.CloseReason.CloseCodes API for an elaborate list of all close codes.
2. channel: the channel name.
3. event: the raw CloseEvent instance.
When a session or view scoped socket is automatically closed with close reason code 1000 by the server
(and thus not manually by the client via jsf.push.close(clientId)), then it means that the session or
view has expired.
Events (server)
When a session or view scoped socket is automatically closed with close reason code 1000 by the server
(and thus not manually by the client via jsf.push.close(clientId)), then it means that the session or
view has expired.
@ApplicationScoped
public class WebsocketObserver {
public void onOpen(@Observes @Opened WebsocketEvent event) {

String channel = event.getChannel();
// Returns <f:websocket channel>.
Long userId = event.getUser();
// Returns <f:websocket user>, if any.
// ...
}
public void onClose(@Observes @Closed WebsocketEvent event) {

String channel = event.getChannel();
// Returns <f:websocket channel>.
Long userId = event.getUser();
// Returns <f:websocket user>, if any.
CloseCode code = event.getCloseCode();
// Returns close reason code.
// ...
}
Security Considerations
If the socket is declared in a page which is only restricted to logged-in users with a specific role, then you may want to
add the URL of the push handshake request URL to the set of restricted URLs.

The push handshake request URL is composed of the URI prefix /javax.faces.push/, followed by
channel name. In the example of container managed security which has already restricted an example page
/user/foo.xhtml to logged-in users with the example role USER on the example URL pattern /user/* in
web.xml like below,
<security-constraint>
<web-resource-collection>
<web-resource-name>Restrict access to role USER.
</web-resource-name>
<url-pattern>/user/*</url-pattern>
</web-resource-collection>
<auth-constraint>
<role-name>USER</role-name>
</auth-constraint>
</security-constraint>
and the page /user/foo.xhtml in turn contains a <f:websocket channel="foo">, then you need to add a
restriction on push handshake request URL pattern of /javax.faces.push/foo as shown next.
<security-constraint>
<web-resource-collection>
<web-resource-name>Restrict access to role USER.
</web-resource-name>
<url-pattern>/user/*</url-pattern>
<url-pattern>/javax.faces.push/foo</url-pattern>
</web-resource-collection>
<auth-constraint>
<role-name>USER</role-name>
</auth-constraint>
</security-constraint>
As extra security, particularly for those public channels which can’t be restricted by security constraints, the
<f:websocket> will register all so previously declared channels in the current HTTP session, and any incoming
websocket open request will be checked whether they match these channels in the current HTTP session. In case the
channel is unknown (e.g. randomly guessed or spoofed by end users or manually reconnected after the session is expired),
then the websocket will immediately be closed with close reason code CloseCodes.VIOLATED_POLICY (1008). Also,
when the HTTP session gets destroyed, all session and view scoped channels which are still open will explicitly be closed
from server side with close reason code CloseCodes.NORMAL_CLOSURE (1000). Only application scoped sockets
remain open and are still reachable from server end even when the session or view associated with the page in client side is
expired.

Ajax Support
In case you’d like to perform complex UI updates depending on the received push message, then you
can nest <f:ajax> inside <f:websocket>. Here’s an example:
<h:panelGroup id="foo">
... (some complex UI here) ...
</h:panelGroup>
<h:form>
<f:websocket channel="someChannel" scope="view">
<f:ajax event="someEvent"
listener="#{bean.pushed}" render=":foo" />
</f:websocket>
</h:form>
Here, the push message simply represents the ajax event name. You can use any custom event name.
someChannel.send("someEvent");
An alternative is to combine <f:websocket> with <h:commandScript>. The <f:websocket onmessage>

can reference exactly the <h:commandScript name>. For example,
<h:panelGroup id="foo">
... (some complex UI here) ...
</h:panelGroup>
<f:websocket channel="someChannel" scope="view"
onmessage="pushed" />
<h:form>
<h:commandScript name="pushed"
action="#{bean.pushed}" render=":foo" />
</h:form>
If you pass a Map<String,V> or a JavaBean as push message object, then all entries/properties will
transparently be available as request parameters in the command script method #{bean.pushed}.
10.4.2 Standard HTML RenderKit Tag Library

This tag library must be equivalent to the one specified in Section 9.5 “Standard HTML RenderKit Tag Library”.
The following additional renderers are added to the ones defined in the other section.
TABLE 10-6 Renderers Unique to Facelets
javax.faces.Command javax.faces.Script commandScript

javax.faces.Script javax.faces.Websocket does not apply

10.4.3 Facelet Templating Tag Library
This tag library is the specified version of the ui: tag library found in pre JSF 2.0 Facelets. The specification for this
library can be found in the VDLDocs for the ui: library.
10.4.4 Composite Component Tag Library

This tag library is used to declare composite components. The specification for this tag library can be found in the
VDLDocs for the composite: library.
10.4.5 JSTL Core and Function Tag Libraries

Facelets exposes a subset of the JSTL Core tag library and the entirety of the JSTL Function tag library. Please see the
VDLDocs for the JSTL Core and JSTL Functions tag libraries for the normative specification.
10.5 Assertions relating to the construction of the view

hierarchy
[P1-start processListenerForAnnotation] When the VDL calls for the creation of a UIComponent instance, after calling
Application.createComponent() to instantiate the component instance, and after calling
setRendererType() on the newly instantiated component instance, the following action must be taken.
? Obtain the Renderer for this component. If no Renderer is present, ignore the following steps.
? Call getClass() on the Renderer instance and inspect if the ListenerFor annotation is present. If so, inspect
if the Renderer instance implements ComponentSystemEventListener. If neither of these conditions are
true, ignore the following steps.
? Obtain the value of the systemEventClass() property of the ListenerFor annotation on the Renderer
instance.
? Call subscribeToEvent() on the UIComponent instance from which the Renderer instance was obtained,
using the systemEventClass from the annotation as the second argument, and the Renderer instance as the
third argument.
[P1-end]

11
Using JSF in Web Applications
This specification provides JSF implementors significant freedom to differentiate themselves through innovative
implementation techniques, as well as value-added features. However, to ensure that web applications based on JSF can
be executed unchanged across different JSF implementations, the following additional requirements, defining how a JSF-
based web application is assembled and configured, must be supported by all JSF implementations.
11.1 Web Application Deployment Descriptor

JSF-based applications are web applications that conform to the requirements of the Java Servlet Specification (version
2.3 or later), and also use the facilities defined in this specification. Conforming web applications are packaged in a web
application archive (WAR), with a well-defined internal directory structure. A key element of a WAR is the web
application deployment descriptor, an XML document that describes the configuration of the resources in this web
application. This document is included in the WAR file itself, at resource path /WEB-INF/web.xml.
Portable JSF-based web applications must include the following configuration elements, in the appropriate portions of
the web application deployment descriptor. Element values that are rendered in italics represent values that the
application developer is free to choose. Element values rendered in bold represent values that must be utilized exactly as
shown.
Executing the request processing lifecycle via other mechanisms is also allowed (for example, an MVC-based
application framework can incorporate calling the correct phase implementations in the correct order); however, all JSF
implementations must support the functionality described in this chapter to ensure application portability.
11.1.1 Servlet Definition

JSF implementations must provide request processing lifecycle services through a standard servlet, defined by this
specification. [P1-start-servlet]This servlet must be defined, in the deployment descriptor of an application that wishes to
employ this portable mechanism, as follows:
<servlet>
<servlet-name> faces-servlet-name </servlet-name>
<servlet-class>
javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet
</servlet-class>
</servlet>
The servlet name, denoted as faces-servlet-name above, may be any desired value; however, the same value must
be used in the servlet mapping (see Section 11.1.2 “Servlet Mapping”).[P1-end]
Chapter 11 Using JSF in Web Applications 11-1

In addition to FacesServlet, JSF implementations may support other ways to invoke the JavaServer Faces request
processing lifecycle, but applications that rely on these mechanisms will not be portable.
11.1.2 Servlet Mapping

All requests to a web application are mapped to a particular servlet based on matching a URL pattern (as defined in the
Java Servlet Specification) against the portion of the request URL after the context path that selected this web
application. [P1-start-mapping]JSF implementations must support web application that define a <servlet-mapping>
that maps any valid url-pattern to the FacesServlet. [P1-end]Prefix or extension mapping may be used. When
using prefix mapping, the following mapping is recommended, but not required:
<servlet-mapping>
<url-pattern>/faces/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
When using extension mapping the following mapping is recommended, but not required:
<servlet-mapping>
<url-pattern>*.faces</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
In addition to FacesServlet, JSF implementations may support other ways to invoke the JavaServer Faces request
processing lifecycle, but applications that rely on these mechanisms will not be portable.
11.1.3 Application Configuration Parameters

Servlet containers support application configuration parameters that may be customized by including <context-
param> elements in the web application deployment descriptor. [P1-start-configParams]All JSF implementations are
required to support the following application configuration parameter names:
? javax.faces.ALWAYS_PERFORM_VALIDATION_WHEN_REQUIRED_IS_TRUE -- See the javadocs for the
constant
javax.faces.component.UIInput.ALWAYS_PERFORM_VALIDATION_WHEN_REQUIRED_IS_TRUE for
the specification of this feature.
? javax.faces.CLIENT_WINDOW_MODE -- The context-param that controls the operation of the ClientWindow
feature. See the javadocs for the constant
javax.faces.lifecycle.ClientWindow.CLIENT_WINDOW_MODE_PARAM_NAME for the specification of
this feature.
? javax.faces.CONFIG_FILES -- Comma-delimited list of context-relative resource paths under which the JSF
implementation will look for application configuration resources (see Section 11.4.5 “Application Configuration
Resource Format”), before loading a configuration resource named “/WEB-INF/faces-config.xml” (if such a
resource exists). If “/WEB-INF/faces-config.xml” is present in the list, it must be ignored.
? javax.faces.DATETIMECONVERTER_DEFAULT_TIMEZONE_IS_SYSTEM_TIMEZONE -- If this param is set,
and calling toLowerCase().equals("true") on a String representation of its value returns true,
Application.createConverter() must guarantee that the default for the timezone of all
javax.faces.convert.DateTimeConverter instances must be equal to TimeZone.getDefault()
instead of “GMT”.

? javax.faces.DEFAULT_SUFFIX -- Allow the web application to define an alternate suffix for JSP pages
containing JSF content. See the javadocs for the symbolic constant
ViewHandler.DEFAULT_SUFFIX_PARAM_NAME for the complete specification.
? javax.faces.DISABLE_FACELET_JSF_VIEWHANDLER -- If this param is set, and calling
toLowerCase().equals("true") on a String representation of its value returns true, the default
ViewHandler must behave as specified in the latest 1.2 version of this specification. Any behavior specified in
Section 7.7.2 “Default ViewDeclarationLanguage Implementation” and implemented in the default ViewHandler
that pertains to handling requests for pages authored in the JavaServer Faces View Declaration Language must not be
executed by the runtime.
For backward compatibility with previous versions of Facelets, the value
DISABLE_FACELET_JSF_VIEWHANDLER must be supported.
? javax.faces.DISABLE_FACESSERVLET_TO_XHTML -- If this param is set, and calling
toLowerCase().equals("true") on a String representation of its value returns true, the default mapping
of the FacesServlet to *.xhtml must not take effect.
? javax.faces.FACELETS_LIBRARIES -- If this param is set, the runtime must interpret it as a semicolon (;)
separated list of paths, starting with “/” (without the quotes). The runtime must interpret each entry in the list as a
path relative to the web application root and interpret the file found at that path as a facelet tag library, conforming to
the facelet taglibrary schema and expose the tags therein according to Section 10.3.2 “Facelet Tag Library
mechanism”. The runtime must also consider the facelets.LIBRARIES param name as an alias to this param
name for backwards compatibility with existing facelets tag libraries.
? javax.faces.FACELETS_BUFFER_SIZE -- The buffer size to set on the response when the ResponseWriter
is generated. By default the value is 1024. A value of -1 will not assign a buffer size on the response. This should be
increased if you are using development mode in order to guarantee that the response isn't partially rendered when an
error is generated. The runtime must also consider the facelets.BUFFER_SIZE param name as an alias to this
param name for backwards compatibility with existing facelets tag libraries.
? javax.faces.FACELETS_DECORATORS -- A semicolon (;) delimitted list of class names of type
javax.faces.view.facelets.TagDecorator, with a no-argument constructor. These decorators will be
loaded when the first request for a Facelets VDL view hits the ViewHandler for page compilation.The runtime
must also consider the facelets.DECORATORS param name as an alias to this param name for backwards
compatibility with existing facelets tag libraries.
? javax.faces.FACELETS_REFRESH_PERIOD -- When a page is requested, what interval in seconds should the
compiler check for changes. If you don't want the compiler to check for changes once the page is compiled, then use
a value of -1. Setting a low refresh period helps during development to be able to edit pages in a running
application.The runtime must also consider the facelets.REFRESH_PERIOD param name as an alias to this
param name for backwards compatibility with existing facelets tag libraries.
? javax.faces.FACELETS_RESOURCE_RESOLVER -- If this param is set, the runtime must interpret its value as a
fully qualified classname of a java class that extends javax.faces.view.facelets.ResourceResolver
and has a zero argument public constructor or a one argument public constructor where the type of the argument is
ResourceResolver. If this param is set and its value does not conform to those requirements, the runtime must
log a message and continue. If it does conform to these requirements and has a one-argument constructor, the default
ResourceResolver must be passed to the constructor. If it has a zero argument constructor it is invoked directly.
In either case, the new ResourceResolver replaces the old one. The runtime must also consider the
facelets.RESOURCE_RESOLVER param name as an alias to this param name for backwards compatibility with
existing facelets tag libraries.
Related to this param is the corresponding annotation,
javax.faces.view.facelets.FaceletsResourceResolver. The presence of this annotation must be
ignored if the corresponding param has been specified. If present, this annotation must be attached to a class that
extends javax.faces.view.facelets.ResourceResolver. If more than one class in the application has
this annotation, an informative error message with logging level SEVERE must be logged indicating this case.
Exactly one of the classes with the annotation must be taken to be the ResourceResolver for the application and
any other classes with the annotation must be ignored. See Section 11.4.8 “Ordering of Artifacts” for the means to put
application configuration resources in order such that the chosen class can be defined. The same rules regarding
decoration of the instance as listed above must apply to the annotated class.

? javax.faces.FACELETS_SKIP_COMMENTS -- If this param is set, and calling
toLowerCase().equals("true") on a String representation of its value returns true, the runtime must
ensure that any XML comments in the Facelets source page are not delivered to the client. The runtime must also
consider the facelets.SKIP_COMMENTS param name as an alias to this param name for backwards compatibility
with existing facelets tag libraries.
? javax.faces.FACELETS_SUFFIX -- Allow the web application to define an alternate suffix for Facelet based
XHTML pages containing JSF content. See the javadocs for the symbolic constant
ViewHandler.FACELETS_SUFFIX_PARAM_NAME for the complete specification.
javax.faces.FACELETS_VIEW_MAPPINGS -- If this param is set, the runtime must interpret it as a semicolon
(;) separated list of strings that is used to forcibly declare that certain pages in the application must be interpreted as
using Facelets, regardless of their extension. The runtime must also consider the facelets.VIEW_MAPPINGS
param name as an alias to this param name for backwards compatibility with existing facelets applications. See the
javadocs for the symbolic constant ViewHandler.FACELETS_VIEW_MAPPINGS_PARAM_NAME for the complete
specification.
? javax.faces.FULL_STATE_SAVING_VIEW_IDS -- The runtime must interpret the value of this parameter as a
comma separated list of view IDs, each of which must have their state saved using the state saving mechanism
specified in JSF 1.2.
? javax.faces.INTERPRET_EMPTY_STRING_SUBMITTED_VALUES_AS_NULL -- If this param is set, and
calling toLowerCase().equals("true") on a String representation of its value returns true, any
implementation of UIInput.validate() must take the following additional action.
If the javax.faces.INTERPRET_EMPTY_STRING_SUBMITTED_VALUES_AS_NULL context parameter value
is true (ignoring case), and UIInput.getSubmittedValue() returns a zero-length String call
UIInput.setSubmittedValue(null) and continue processing using null as the current submitted value
? javax.faces.LIFECYCLE_ID -- Lifecycle identifier of the Lifecycle instance to be used when processing
JSF requests for this web application. If not specified, the JSF default instance, identified by
LifecycleFactory.DEFAULT_LIFECYCLE, must be used.
? javax.faces.PARTIAL_STATE_SAVING --The ServletContext init parameter consulted by the runtime to
determine if the partial state saving mechanism should be used.
If undefined, the runtime must determine the version level of the application.
? For applications versioned at 1.2 and under, the runtime must not use the partial state saving mechanism.
? For applications versioned at 2.0 and above, the runtime must use the partial state saving mechanism.
? If this parameter is defined, and the application is versioned at 1.2 and under, the runtime must not use the partial
state saving mechanism. Otherwise, If this param is defined, and calling toLowerCase().equals("true") on a String
representation of its value returns true, the runtime must use partial state mechanism. Otherwise the partial state
saving mechanism must not be used.
? javax.faces.PROJECT_STAGE -- A human readable string describing where this particular JSF application is in
the software development lifecycle. Valid values are “Development”, “UnitTest”, “SystemTest”, or
“Production”, corresponding to the enum constants of the class
javax.faces.application.ProjectStage. It is also possible to set this value via JNDI. See the javadocs
for Application.getProjectStage().
? javax.faces.SEPARATOR_CHAR --The context param that allows the character used to separate segments in a
UIComponent clientId to be set on a per-application basis.
? javax.faces.SERIALIZE_SERVER_STATE --If this param is set, and calling
toLowerCase().equals("true") on a String representation of its value returns true, and the
javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD is set to “server” (as indicated below), the server state must be
guaranteed to be Serializable such that the aggregate state implements java.io.Serializable. The intent of this
parameter is to ensure that the act of writing out the state to an ObjectOutputStream would not throw a
NotSerializableException, but the runtime is not required verify this before saving the state.
? javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD -- The location where state information is saved. Valid values are
“server” (typically saved in HttpSession) and “client (typically saved as a hidden field in the subsequent form
submit). If not specified, the default value “server” must be used. When examining the parameter value, the runtime
must ignore case.

? javax.faces.VALIDATE_EMPTY_FIELDS -- If this param is set, and calling
toLowerCase().equals("true") on a String representation of its value returns true, all submitted fields
will be validated. This is necessary to allow the model validator to decide whether null or empty values are
allowable in the current application. If the value is false, null or empty values will not be passed to the validators.
If the value is the string “auto”, the runtime must check if JSR-303 Beans Validation is present in the current
environment. If so, the runtime must proceed as if the value “true” had been specified. If JSR-303 Beans Validation
is not present in the current environment, the runtime most proceed as if the value “false” had been specified. If
the param is not set, the system must behave as if the param was set with the value “auto”.
? javax.faces.validator.DISABLE_DEFAULT_BEAN_VALIDATOR -- If this param is set, and calling
toLowerCase().equals("true") on a String representation of its value returns true, the runtime must not
automatically add the validator with validator-id equal to the value of the symbolic constant
javax.faces.validator.VALIDATOR_ID to the list of default validators. Setting this parameter to true will
have the effect of disabling the automatic installation of Bean Validation to every input component in every view in
the application, though manual installation is still possible.
? javax.faces.validator.ENABLE_VALIDATE_WHOLE_BEAN -- If this param is set, and calling
toLowerCase().equals("true") on a String representation of its value returns true, the
<f:validateWholeBean /> tag is enabled. If not set or set to false, this tag is a no-op.
? javax.faces.VIEWROOT_PHASE_LISTENER_QUEUES_EXCEPTIONS -- If this param is set, and calling
toLowerCase().equals("true") on a String representation of its value returns true, exceptions thrown by
PhaseListeners installed on the UIViewRoot are queued to the ExceptionHandler instead of being logged
and swallowed. If this param is not set or is set to false, the old behavior prevails.
? javax.faces.ENABLE_WEBSOCKET_ENDPOINT -- Enable WebSocket support. See the javadoc for
javax.faces.component.UIWebsocket.
? javax.faces.WEBAPP_RESOURCES_DIRECTORY
If this param is set, the runtime must interpret its value as a path, relative to the web app root, where resources are to
be located. This param value must not start with a “/”, though it may contain “/” characters. If no such param exists,
or its value is invalid, the value “resources”, without the quotes, must be used by the runtime as the value.
? javax.faces.WEBAPP_CONTRACTS_DIRECTORY
If this param is set, the runtime must interpret its value as a path, relative to the web app root, where resource library
contracts are to be located. This param value must not start with a “/”, though it may contain “/” characters. If no such
param exists, or its value is invalid, the value “contracts”, without the quotes, must be used by the runtime as the
value.
? [P1-end]
JSF implementations may choose to support additional configuration parameters, as well as additional mechanisms to
customize the JSF implementation; however, applications that rely on these facilities will not be portable to other JSF
implementations.
11.2 Included Classes and Resources

A JSF-based application will rely on a combination of APIs, and corresponding implementation classes and resources, in
addition to its own classes and resources. The web application archive structure identifies two standard locations for
classes and resources that will be automatically made available when a web application is deployed:
? /WEB-INF/classes -- A directory containing unpacked class and resource files.
? /WEB-INF/lib -- A directory containing JAR files that themselves contain class files and resources.
In addition, servlet and portlet containers typically provide mechanisms to share classes and resources across one or
more web applications, without requiring them to be included inside the web application itself.
The following sections describe how various subsets of the required classes and resources should be packaged, and how
they should be made available.

11.2.1 Application-Specific Classes and Resources
Application-specific classes and resources should be included in /WEB-INF/classes or /WEB-INF/lib, so that
they are automatically made available upon application deployment.
11.2.2 Servlet and JSP API Classes (javax.servlet.*)

These classes will typically be made available to all web applications using the shared class facilities of the servlet
container. Therefore, these classes should not be included inside the web application archive.
11.2.3 JSP Standard Tag Library (JSTL) API Classes (javax.servlet.jsp.jstl.*)

11.2.4 JSP Standard Tag Library (JSTL) Implementation Classes

11.2.5 JavaServer Faces API Classes (javax.faces.*)

11.2.6 JavaServer Faces Implementation Classes

11.2.6.1 FactoryFinder
javax.faces.FactoryFinder implements the standard discovery algorithm for all factory objects specified in the
JavaServer Faces APIs. For a given factory class name, a corresponding implementation class is searched for based on
the following algorithm. Items are listed in order of decreasing search precedence:
1. If a default JavaServer Faces configuration file (/WEB-INF/faces-config.xml) is bundled into the web
application, and it contains a factory entry of the given factory class name, that factory class is used.
2. If the JavaServer Faces configuration resource(s) named by the javax.faces.CONFIG_FILES

ServletContext init parameter (if any) contain any factory entries of the given factory class name, those factories
are used, with the last one taking precedence.
3. If there are any META-INF/faces-config.xml resources bundled any JAR files in the web ServletContext’s
resource paths, the factory entries of the given factory class name in those files are used, with the last one
taking precedence.

4. If a META-INF/services/{factory-class-name} resource is visible to the web application class loader for
the calling application (typically as a result of being present in the manifest of a JAR file), its first line is read and
assumed to be the name of the factory implementation class to use.
5. If none of the above steps yield a match, the JavaServer Faces implementation specific class is used.
If any of the factories found on any of the steps above happen to have a one-argument constructor, with argument the
type being the abstract factory class, that constructor is invoked, and the previous match is passed to the constructor. For
example, say the container vendor provided an implementation of FacesContextFactory, and identified it in META-
INF/services/javax.faces.context.FacesContextFactory in a jar on the webapp ClassLoader. Also
say this implementation provided by the container vendor had a one argument constructor that took a
FacesContextFactory instance. The FactoryFinder system would call that one-argument constructor, passing
the implementation of FacesContextFactory provided by the JavaServer Faces implementation.
If a Factory implementation does not provide a proper one-argument constructor, it must provide a zero-arguments
constructor in order to be successfully instantiated.
Once the name of the factory implementation class is located, the web application class loader for the calling application
is requested to load this class, and a corresponding instance of the class will be created. A side effect of this rule is that
each web application will receive its own instance of each factory class, whether the JavaServer Faces implementation is
included within the web application or is made visible through the container's facilities for shared libraries.
public static Object getFactory(String factoryName);
Create (if necessary) and return a per-web-application instance of the appropriate implementation class for the specified
JavaServer Faces factory class, based on the discovery algorithm described above.
JSF implementations must also include implementations of the several factory classes. In order to be dynamically
instantiated according to the algorithm defined above, the factory implementation class must include a public, no-
arguments constructor. [P1-start-factoryNames]For each of the public static final String fields on the class
FactoryFinder whose field names end with the string “_FACTORY” (without the quotes), the implementation must
provide an implementation of the corresponding Factory class using the algorithm described earlier in this section.[P1-
end]
11.2.6.2 FacesServlet
FacesServlet is an implementation of javax.servlet.Servlet that accepts incoming requests and passes them
to the appropriate Lifecycle implementation for processing. This servlet must be declared in the web application
deployment descriptor, as described in Section 11.1.1 “Servlet Definition”, and mapped to a standard URL pattern as
described in Section 11.1.2 “Servlet Mapping”.
public void init(ServletConfig config) throws ServletException;
Acquire and store references to the FacesContextFactory and Lifecycle instances to be used in this web
application. For the LifecycleInstance, first consult the init-param set for this FacesServlet instance for a
parameter of the name javax.faces.LIFECYCLE_ID. If present, use that as the lifecycleID attribute to the
getLifecycle() method of LifecycleFactory. If not present, consult the context-param set for this web
application. If present, use that as the lifecycleID attribute to the getLifecycle() method of
LifecycleFactory. If neither param set has a value for javax.faces.LIFECYCLE_ID, use the value DEFAULT.
As an implementation note, please take care to ensure that all PhaseListener instances defined for the application are
installed on all lifecycles created during this process.
public void destroy();

Release the FacesContextFactory and Lifecycle references that were acquired during execution of the init()
method.
public void service(ServletRequest request, ServletResponse

response) throws IOException, ServletException;
For each incoming request, the following processing is performed:

? Using the FacesContextFactory instance stored during the init() method, call the getFacesContext()
method to acquire a FacesContext instance with which to process the current request.
? Call the execute() method of the saved Lifecycle instance, passing the FacesContext instance for this
request as a parameter. If the execute() method throws a FacesException, re-throw it as a
ServletException with the FacesException as the root cause.
? Call the render() method of the saved Lifecycle instance, passing the FacesContext instance for this
request as a parameter. If the render() method throws a FacesException, re-throw it as a
ServletException with the FacesException as the root cause.
? Call the release() method on the FacesContext instance, allowing it to be returned to a pool if the JSF
implementation uses one.
[P1-start-servletParams]The FacesServlet implementation class must also declare two static public final String constants
whose value is a context initialization parameter that affects the behavior of the servlet:
? CONFIG_FILES_ATTR -- the context initialization attribute that may optionally contain a comma-delimited list of
context relative resources (in addition to /WEB-INF/faces-config.xml which is always processed if it is
present) to be processed. The value of this constant must be “javax.faces.CONFIG_FILES”.
? LIFECYCLE_ID_ATTR -- the lifecycle identifier of the Lifecycle instance to be used for processing requests to
this application, if an instance other than the default is required. The value of this constant must be
“javax.faces.LIFECYCLE_ID”.[P1-end]
11.2.6.3 UIComponentELTag
[P1-start-uicomponenteltag]UIComponentELTag is an implementation of
javax.servlet.jsp.tagext.BodyTag, and must be the base class for any JSP custom action that corresponds to
a JSF UIComponent.[P1-end] See Chapter 9 “Integration with JSP, and the Javadocs for UIComponentELTag, for
more information about using this class as the base class for your own UIComponent custom action classes.
11.2.6.4 FacetTag
JSP custom action that adds a named facet (see Section 3.1.9 “Facet Management”) to the UIComponent associated with
the closest parent UIComponent custom action. See Section 9.4.6 “<f:facet>”.
11.2.6.5 ValidatorTag
JSP custom action (and convenience base class) that creates and registers a Validator instance on the UIComponent
associated with the closest parent UIComponent custom action. See Section 9.4.15 “<f:validateLength>”,
Section 9.4.16 “<f:validateRegex>”, Section 9.4.17 “<f:validateLongRange>”, and Section 9.4.18 “<f:validator>”.

11.3 Deprecated APIs in the webapp package
Faces depends on version JSP 2.1 or later, and the JSP tags in Faces expose properties that leverage concepts specific to
that release of JSP. Importantly, most Faces JSP tag attributes are either of type javax.el.ValueExpression or
javax.el.MethodExpression. For backwards compatability with existing Faces component libraries that expose
themselves as JSP tags, the existing classes relating to JSP have been deprecated and new ones introduced that leverage
the EL API.
11.3.1 AttributeTag
[P1-start-attributetag]The faces implementation must now provide this class.[P1-end]
11.3.2 ConverterTag
This has been replaced with ConverterELTag
11.3.3 UIComponentBodyTag
All component tags now implement BodyTag by virtue of the new class UIComponentClassicTagBase
implementing BodyTag. This class has been replaced by UIComponentELTag.
11.3.4 UIComponentTag
This component has been replaced by UIComponentELTag.
11.3.5 ValidatorTag
This component has been replaced by ValidatorELTag.
11.4 Application Configuration Resources

This section describes the JSF support for portable application configuration resources used to configure application
components.
11.4.1 Overview
JSF defines a portable configuration resource format (as an XML document) for standard configuration information.
Please see the Javadoc overview for a link, titled “faces-config XML Schema Documentation” to the XML Schema
Definition for such documents.

One or more such application resources will be loaded automatically, at application startup time, by the JSF
implementation. The information parsed from such resources will augment the information provided by the JSF
implementation, as described below.
In addition to their use during the execution of a JSF-based web application, configuration resources provide information
that is useful to development tools created by Tool Providers. The mechanism by which configuration resources are made
available to such tools is outside the scope of this specification.
11.4.2 Application Startup Behavior

Implementations may check for the presence of a servlet-class definition of class
javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet in the web application deployment descriptor as a means to abort the
configuration process and reduce startup time for applications that do not use JavaServer Faces Technology.
At application startup time, before any requests are processed, the [P1-start-startup]JSF implementation must process
zero or more application configuration resources, located as follows
Make a list of all of the application configuration resources found using the following algorithm:
? Check for the existence of a context initialization parameter named javax.faces.CONFIG_FILES. If it exists,
treat it as a comma-delimited list of context relative resource paths (starting with a “/”), and add each of the specified
resources to the list. If this parameter exists, skip the searching specified in the next bullet item in this list.
? Search for all resources that match either “META-INF/faces-config.xml” or end with “.faces-
config.xml” directly in the “META-INF” directory. Each resource that matches that expression must be considered
an application configuration resource.
? Using the java.util.ServiceLoader, locate all implementations of the
javax.faces.ApplicationConfigurationResourceDocumentPopulator service. For each
implementation, create a fresh org.w3c.dom.Document instance, configured to be in the XML namespace of the
application configuration resource format, and invoke the implementation’s
populateApplicationConfigurationResource() method. If no exception is thrown, add the document to
the list, otherwise log a message and continue.
Let this list be known as applicationConfigurationResources for discussion. Also, check for the existence of a web
application configuration resource named “/WEB-INF/faces-config.xml”, and refer to this as
applicationFacesConfig for discussion, but do not put it in the list. When parsing the application configuration resources,
the implementation must ensure that applicationConfigurationResources are parsed before applicationFacesConfig.[P1-
end]
Please see Section 11.4.8 “Ordering of Artifacts” for details on the ordering in which the decoratable artifacts in the
application configuration resources in applicationConfigurationResources and applicationFacesConfig must be
processed.
This algorithm provides considerable flexibility for developers that are assembling the components of a JSF-based web
application. For example, an application might include one or more custom UIComponent implementations, along with
associated Renderers, so it can declare them in an application resource named “/WEB-INF/faces-config.xml”
with no need to programmatically register them with Application instance. In addition, the application might choose
to include a component library (packaged as a JAR file) that includes a “META-INF/faces-config.xml” resource.
The existence of this resource causes components, renderers, and other JSF implementation classes that are stored in this
library JAR file to be automatically registered, with no action required by the application.
Perform the actions specified in Section 11.4.3 “Faces Flows”.
Perform the actions specified in Section 11.4.2.1 “Resource Library Contracts”.
[P1-start-PostConstructApplicationEvent]The runtime must publish the

javax.faces.event.PostConstructApplicationEvent immediately after all application configuration
resources have been processed.[P1-end]

[P1-start-startupErrors]XML parsing errors detected during the loading of an application resource file are fatal to
application startup, and must cause the application to not be made available by the container. JSF implementations that
are part of a Java EE technology-compliant implementation are required to validate the application resource file against
the XML schema for structural correctness. [P1-end]The validation is recommended, but not required for JSF
implementations that are not part of a Java EE technology-compliant implementation.
11.4.2.1 Resource Library Contracts

[P1-start-ResourceLibraryContractScanning]If the parsing of the application configuration resources completed
successfully, scan the application for resource library contracts. Any resource library contract as described in Section 2.7
“Resource Library Contracts” must be discovered at application startup time. The complete set of discovered contracts
has no ordering semantics and effectively is represented as a Set<String> where the values are just the names of the
resource libraries. If multiple sources in the application configuration resources contained <resource-library-
contracts>, they are all merged into one element. Duplicates are resolved in as specified in Section 11.4.8 “Ordering
of Artifacts”. If the application configuration resources produced a <resource-library-contracts> element,
create an implementation private data structure (called the “resource library contracts data structure”) containing the
mappings between viewId patterns and resource library contracts as listed by the contents of that element.
The <resource-library-contracts> element is contained with in the <application> element and contains
one or more <contract-mapping> elements. Each <contract-mapping> element must one or more <url-
pattern> elements and one or more <contract> elements.
The value of the <url-pattern> element may be any of the following.

? The literal string *, meaning all views should have these contracts applied.
? An absolute prefix mapping, relative to the web app root, such as /directoryName/* meaning only views
matching that prefix should have these contracts applied.
? An exact fully qualified file path, relative to the web app root, such as /directoryName/fileName.xhtml,
meaning exactly that view should have the contracts applied.
See Section 7.7.2.2 “ViewDeclarationLanguage.calculateResourceLibraryContracts()” for the specification of how the
values of the <url-pattern> are to be processed.
The value of the <contracts> element is a comma separated list of resource library contract names. A resource
library contract name is the name of a directory within the contracts directory of the web app root, or the
contracts directory within the META-INF/contracts JAR entry.
Only the contracts explicitly mentioned in the <resource-library-contracts> element are included in the data
structure. If the information from the application configuration resources refers to a contract that is not available to the
application, an informative error message must be logged.
If the application configuration resources did not produce a <resource-library-contracts> element, the data
structure should be populated as if this were the contents of the <resource-library-contracts> element:
<resource-library-contracts>
<contract-mapping>
<url-pattern>*</url-pattern>
<contracts>”all available contracts”</contracts>
</contract-mapping>
</resource-library-contracts>
Where “all available contracts” is replaced with a comma separated list of all the contracts discovered in the startup scan.
In the case where there is no <resource-library-contracts> element in the application configuration resources,
ordering of contracts is unspecified, which may lead to unexpected behavior in the case of multiple contracts that have
the same contract declaration.

11.4.3 Faces Flows
[P1-start-FacesFlowScanning]If the parsing of the application configuration resources completed successfully, any XML
based flow definitions in the application configuration resources will have been successfully discovered as well. The
discovered flows must be exposed as thread safe immutable application scoped instances of
javax.faces.flow.Flow, and made accessible to the runtime via the FlowHandler. If flows exist in the
application, but the javax.faces.CLIENT_WINDOW_MODE context-param was not specified, the runtime must
behave as if the value “url” (without the quotes) was specified for this context-param.
11.4.3.1 Defining Flows

Flows are defined using the <flow-definition> element. This element must have an id attribute which uniquely
identifies the flow within the scope of the Application Configuration Resource file in which the element appears. To
enable multiple flows with the same id to exist in an application, the <faces-config><name> element is taken to
be the definingDocumentId of the flow. If no <name> element is specified, the empty string is taken as the value
for definingDocumentId. Please see Section 7.5 “FlowHandler” for an overview of the flow feature. Note that a
number of conventions exist to make defining flows simpler. These conventions are specified in Section 11.4.3.3
“Packaging Flows in Directories”.
[P1-end]
11.4.3.2 Packaging Faces Flows in JAR Files

[P1-start-FacesFlowJarPackaging] The runtime must support packaging Faces Flows in JAR files as specified in this
section. Any flows packaged in a jar file must have its flow definition included in a faces-config.xml file located
at the META-INF/faces-config.xml JAR entry. This ensures that such flow definitions are included in the
application configuration resources. Any view nodes included in the jar must be located within sub entries of the META-
INF/flows/<flowName> JAR entry, where <flowName> is a JAR directory entry whose name is identical to that of
a flow id in the corresponding faces-config.xml file. If there are @FlowScoped beans or beans with
@FlowDefinition in the JAR, there must be a JAR entry named META-INF/beans.xml. This ensures that such
beans and definitions are discovered by the runtime at startup. None of the flow definition conventions specified in
Section 11.4.3.3 “Packaging Flows in Directories” apply when a flow is packaged in a JAR file. In other words, the flow
must be explicitly declared in the JAR file’s faces-config.xml.
[P1-end]
11.4.3.3 Packaging Flows in Directories

The view nodes of a flow need not be collected in any specific directory structure, but there is a benefit in doing so: flow
definition conventions. [P1-start-FacesFlowDirectoryPackaging] If the javax.faces.CONFIG_FILES context
parameter includes references to files of the form /<flowName>/<flowName>-flow.xml or /WEB-INF/<flow-
Name>/<flowName>-flow.xml, and if such files exist in the current application (even if they are zero length), they
are treated as flow definitions. Flow definitions defined in this way must not be nested any deeper in the directory
structure than one level deep from the web app root or the WEB-INF directory.
The following conventions apply to flows defined in this manner. Any flow definition in the corresponding -flow.xml
file will override any of the conventions in the case of a conflict.
? Every vdl file in that directory is a view node of that flow.
? The start node of the flow is the view whose name is the same as the name of the flow.
? Navigation among any of the views in the directory is considered to be within the flow.
? The flow defining document id is the empty string.
In the case of a zero length flow definition file, the following also applies:

? There is one return node in the flow, whose id is the id of the flow with the string “-return” (without the quotes)
appended to it. For example, if flowId is shopping, the return node id is shopping-return.
? The from-outcome of the return node is a string created with the following formula:
"/" + flowId + "-return".
For each directory packaged flow definition, the runtime must synthesize an instance of javax.faces.flow.Flow
that represents the union of the flow definition from the /<flowName>/<flowName>-flow.xml file for that
directory, and any of the preceding naming conventions, with precedence being given to the -flow.xml file. Such
Flow instances must be added to the FlowHandler before the PostConstructApplicationEvent is published.
[P1-end]
11.4.4 Application Shutdown Behavior

When the JSF runtime is directed to shutdown by its container, the following actions must be taken. [p1-start-
application-shutdown]
1. Ensure that calls to FacesContext.getCurrentInstance() that happen during application shutdown return
successfully, as specified in the Javadocs for that method.
2. Publish the javax.faces.event.PreDestroyApplicationEvent.
3. Call FactoryFinder.releaseFactories().
[p1-end]
11.4.5 Application Configuration Resource Format

Application configuration resources that are written to run on JSF 2.3 must include the following schema declaration and
must conform to the schema shown in Chapter A “Appendix A - JSF Metadata
<faces-config
xmlns="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee
http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee/web-facesconfig_2_3.xsd"
version="2.3">
[P1-start-schema]Application configuration resources that are written to run on JSF 2.2 must include the following
schema declaration and must conform to the schema shown in Chapter A “Appendix A - JSF Metadata:
<faces-config
xmlns="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee
http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee/web-facesconfig_2_2.xsd"
version="2.2">
Note that the “hostname” of the xmlns and xsi:schemaLocation attributes has changed from “java.sun.com” to
“xmlns.jcp.org”. The “xmlns.jcp.org” hostname must be used when using version="2.2" and web-
facesconfig_2_2.xsd. It is not valid to use this hostname with versions prior to 2.2. Likewise, it is not valid to use
the “java.sun.com” hostname when using version="2.2" and web-facesconfig_2_2.xsd.

Application configuration resources that are written to run on JSF 2.1 must include the following schema declaration:
<faces-config
xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee
http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-facesconfig_2_1.xsd"
version="2.1">
Application configuration resources that are written to run on JSF 2.0 must include the following schema declaration:
<faces-config
version="2.0">
Application configuration resources that are written to run on JSF 1.2 Application configuration resources must include
the following schema declaration and must conform to the schema referenced in the schemalocation URI shown below:
<faces-config version="1.2" xmlns=

"http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-facesconfig_1_2.xsd">
Application configuration resources that are written to run on JSF 1.1 implementations must use the DTD declaration
and include the following DOCTYPE declaration:
<!DOCTYPE faces-config PUBLIC

“-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD JavaServer Faces Config 1.1//EN”
“http://java.sun.com/dtd/web-facesconfig_1_1.dtd”>
Application configuration resources that are written to run on JSF 1.0 implementations must use the DTD declaration for
the 1.0 DTD contained in the binary download of the JSF reference implementation. They must also use the following
DOCTYPE declaration:[P1-end]


11.4.6 Configuration Impact on JSF Runtime
The following XML elements1 in application configuration resources cause registration of JSF objects into the
corresponding factories or properties. It is an error if the value of any of these elements cannot be correctly parsed,
loaded, set, or otherwise used by the implementation.
? /faces-config/component -- Create or replace a component type / component class pair with the Application
instance for this web application.
? /faces-config/converter -- Create or replace a converter id / converter class or target class / converter class pair with
the Application instance for this web application.
? /faces-config/render-kit -- Create and register a new RenderKit instance with the RenderKitFactory, if one
does not already exist for the specified render-kit-id.
? /faces-config/render-kit/renderer -- Create or replace a component family + renderer id / renderer class pair with the
RenderKit associated with the render-kit element we are nested in.
? /faces-config/validator -- Create or replace a validator id / validator class pair with the Application instance for
this web application.
For components, converters, and validators, it is legal to replace the implementation class that is provided (by the JSF
implementation) by default. This is accomplished by specifying the standard value for the <component-type>,
<converter-id>, or <validator-id> that you wish to replace, and specifying your implementation class. To
avoid class cast exceptions, the replacement implementation class must be a subclass of the standard class being
replaced. For example, if you declare a custom Converter implementation class for the standard converter identifier
javax.faces.Integer, then your replacement class must be a subclass of
javax.faces.convert.IntegerConverter.
For replacement Renderers, your implementation class must extend javax.faces.render.Renderer. However,
to avoid unexpected behavior, your implementation should recognize all of the render-dependent attributes supported by
the Renderer class you are replacing, and provide equivalent decode and encode behavior.
The following XML elements cause the replacement of the default implementation class for the corresponding
functionality, provided by the JSF implementation. See Section 11.4.7 “Delegating Implementation Support” for more
information about the classes referenced by these elements:
? /faces-config/application/action-listener -- Replace the default ActionListener used to process
ActionEvent events with an instance with the class specified. The contents of this element must be a fully
qualified Java class name that, when instantiated, is an ActionListener.
? /faces-config/application/navigation-handler -- Replace the default NavigationHandler instance with the one
specified. The contents of this element must be a fully qualified Java class name that, when instantiated, is a
NavigationHandler.
? /faces-config/application/property-resolver -- Replace the default PropertyResolver instance with the one
PropertyResolver.
? /faces-config/application/resource-handler -- Replace the default ResourceHandler instance with the one
ResourceHandler.
? /faces-config/application/search-expression-handler -- This element contains the fully qualified class name of the
concrete javax.faces.component.search.SearchExpressionHandler implementation class that will
be used for processing of a search expression.
1. Identified by XPath selection expressions.

? /faces-config/application/search-keyword-resolver -- This element contains the fully qualified class name of the
concrete javax.faces.component.search.SearchKeywordResolver implementation class that will be used during the
processing of a search expression keyword.
? /faces-config/application/state-manager -- Replace the default StateManager instance with the one specified.
The contents of this element must be a fully qualified Java class name that, when instantiated, is a StateManager.
? /faces-config/application/system-event-listener -- Instantiate a new instance of the class specified as the content
within a nested system-event-listener-class element, which must implement SystemEventListener. This
instance is referred to as systemEventListener for discussion. If a system-event-class is specified as a nested
element within system-event-listener, it must be a class that extends SystemEvent and has a public zero-
arguments constructor. The Class object for system-event-class is obtained and is referred to as systemEventClass
for discussion. If system-event-class is not specified, SystemEvent.class must be used as the value of
systemEventClass. If source-class is specified as a nested element within system-event-listener, it must be a fully
qualified class name. The Class object for source-class is obtained and is referred to as sourceClass for discussion.
If source-class is not specified, let sourceClass be null. Obtain a reference to the Application instance and call
subscribeForEvent(facesEventClass, sourceClass, systemEventListener), passing the
arguments as assigned in the discussion.
? /faces-config/application/variable-resolver -- Replace the default VariableResolver instance with the one
VariableResolver.
? /faces-config/application/view-handler -- Replace the default ViewHandler instance with the one specified. The
contents of this element must be a fully qualified Java class name that, when instantiated, is a ViewHandler.
The following XML elements cause the replacement of the default implementation class for the corresponding
functionality, provided by the JSF implementation. Each of the referenced classes must have a public zero-arguments
constructor:
? /faces-config/factory/application-factory -- Replace the default ApplicationFactory instance with the one
specified. The contents of this element must be a fully qualified Java class name that, when instantiated, is an
ApplicationFactory.
? /faces-config/factory/client-window-factory -- Replace the default ClientWindowFactory instance with the one
ClientWindowFactory.
? /faces-config/factory/exception-handler-factory -- Replace the default ExceptionHandlerFactory instance
with the one specified. The contents of this element must be a fully qualified Java class name that, when instantiated,
is a ExceptionHandlerFactory.
? /faces-config/factory/faces-context-factory -- Replace the default FacesContextFactory instance with the one
FacesContextFactory.
? /faces-config/factory/flash-factory -- Replace the default FlashFactory instance with the one specified. The
contents of this element must be a fully qualified Java class name that, when instantiated, is a FlashFactory.
? /faces-config/factory/flow-handler-factory -- Replace the default FlowHandlerFactory instance with the one
FlowHandlerFactory.
? /faces-config/factory/lifecycle-factory -- Replace the default LifecycleFactory instance with the one specified.
The contents of this element must be a fully qualified Java class name that, when instantiated, is a
LifecycleFactory.
? /faces-config/factory/render-kit-factory -- Replace the default RenderKitFactory instance with the one
RenderKitFactory.
? /faces-config/factory/search-expression-context-kit-factory -- This element contains the fully qualified class name
of the concrete SearchExpressionContextFactory implementation class that will be called when
FactoryFinder.getFactory(SEARCH_EXPRESSION_CONTEXT_FACTORY) is called.

? /faces-config/factory/view-declaration-language-factory -- Replace the default
ViewDeclarationLanguageFactory instance with the one specified. The contents of this element must be a
fully qualified Java class name that, when instantiated, is a ViewDeclarationLanguageFactory.
The following XML elements cause the addition of event listeners to standard JSF implementation objects, as follows.
Each of the referenced classes must have a public zero-arguments constructor.
? /faces-config/lifecycle/phase-listener -- Instantiate a new instance of the specified class, which must implement
PhaseListener, and register it with the Lifecycle instance for the current web application.
In addition, the following XML elements influence the runtime behavior of the JSF implementation, even though they do
not cause registration of objects that are visible to a JSF-based application.
? /faces-config/managed-bean -- Make the characteristics of a managed bean with the specified managed-bean-
name available to the default VariableResolver implementation.
? /faces-config/navigation-rule -- Make the characteristics of a navigation rule available to the default
NavigationHandler implementation.
11.4.7 Delegating Implementation Support

[P1-decoratable_artifacts]The runtime must support the decorator design pattern as specified below for the following
artifacts.
? ActionListener
? ApplicationFactory
? ExceptionHandlerFactory
? FacesContextFactory
? FlashFactory
? FlowHandlerFactory
? LifecycleFactory
? NavigationHandler
? PartialViewContext
? PropertyResolver
? RenderKit
? RenderKitFactory
? ResourceHandler
? ResourceResolver
? StateManager
? TagHandlerDelegateFactory
? VariableResolver
? ViewHandler
? ViewDeclarationLanguage
? VisitContextFactory
[P1_end_decoratable_artifacts]For all of these artifacts, the decorator design pattern is leveraged, so that if one provides
a constructor that takes a single argument of the appropriate type, the custom implementation receives a reference to the
implementation that was previously fulfilling the role. In this way, the custom implementation is able to override just a
subset of the functionality (or provide only some additional functionality) and delegate the rest to the existing
implementation.

The implementation must also support decoration of a RenderKit instance. At the point in time of when the
<render-kit> element is processed in an application configuration resources, if the current RenderKitFactory
already has a RenderKit instance for the <render-kit-id> within the <render-kit> element, and the Class
whose fully qualified java class name is given as the value of the <render-kit-class> element within the
<render-kit> element has a constructor that takes an RenderKit instance, the existing RenderKit for that
<render-kit-id> must be passed to that constructor, and the RenderKit resulting from the executing of that
constructor must be passed to RenderKitFactory.addRenderKit().
For example, say you wanted to provide a custom ViewHandler that was the same as the default one, but provided a
different implementation of the calculateLocale() method. Consider this code excerpt from a custom
ViewHandler:
public class MyViewHandler extends ViewHandler {
public MyViewHandler() { }
public MyViewHandler(ViewHandler handler) {

super();
oldViewHandler = handler;
}
private ViewHandler oldViewHandler = null;
// Delegate the renderView() method to the old handler

public void renderView(FacesContext context, UIViewRoot view)
throws IOException, FacesException {
oldViewHandler.renderView(context, view);
}
// Delegate other methods in the same manner
// Overridden version of calculateLocale()

public Locale calculateLocale(FacesContext context) {
Locale locale = ... // Custom calculation
return locale;
}
The second constructor will get called as the application is initially configured by the JSF implementation, and the
previously registered ViewHandler will get passed to it.
In version 1.2, we added new wrapper classes to make it easier to override a subset of the total methods of the class and
delegate the rest to the previous instance. We provide wrappers for javax.faces.application.ViewHandler,
javax.faces.application.StateManager, and javax.faces.context.ResponseWriter. For
example, you could have a faces-config.xml file that contains the following:
<application>
<view-handler>com.foo.NewViewHandler</view-handler>
<state-manager>com.foo.NewStateManager</state-manager>
</application>

Where your implementations for these classes are simply:
package com.foo;
import javax.faces.application.ViewHandler;
import javax.faces.application.ViewHandlerWrapper;
public class NewViewHandler extends ViewHandlerWrapper {
private ViewHandler oldViewHandler = null;
public NewViewHandler(ViewHandler oldViewHandler) {

this.oldViewHandler = oldViewHandler;
}
public ViewHandler getWrapped() {

return oldViewHandler;
}
}
package com.foo;
import javax.faces.application.StateManager;
import javax.faces.application.StateManagerWrapper;
public class NewStateManager extends StateManagerWrapper {
private StateManager oldStateManager = null;
public NewStateManager(StateManager oldStateManager) {

this.oldStateManager = oldStateManager;
}
public StateManager getWrapped() {

return oldStateManager;
}
}
This allows you to override as many or as few methods as you’d like.
11.4.8 Ordering of Artifacts

Because the specification allows the application configuration resources to be composed of multiple files, discovered and
loaded from several different places in the application, the question of ordering must be addressed. This section specifies
how application configuration resource authors may declare the ordering requirements of their artifacts.
Section 11.4.2 “Application Startup Behavior” defines two concepts: applicationConfigurationResources and
applicationFacesConfig. The former is an ordered list of all the application configuration resources except the one at
“WEB-INF/faces-config.xml”, and the latter is a list containing only the one at “WEB-INF/faces-
config.xml”.
An application configuration resource may have a top level <name> element of type javaee:java-
identifierType. [P1-facesConfigIdStart]If a <name> element is present, it must be considered for the ordering of
decoratable artifacts (unless the duplicate name exception applies, as described below).

Two cases must be considered to allow application configuration resources to express their ordering preferences.
1. Absolute ordering: an <absolute-ordering> element in the applicationFacesConfig

In this case, ordering preferences that would have been handled by case 2 below must be ignored.
Any <name> element direct children of the <absolute-ordering> must be interpreted as indicating the absolute
ordering in which those named application configuration resources, which may or may not be present in
applicationConfigurationResources, must be processed.
The <absolute-ordering> element may contain zero or one <others /> elements. The required action for
this element is described below. If the <absolute-ordering> element does not contain an <others />
element, any application configuration resources not specifically mentioned within <name /> elements must be
ignored.
Duplicate name exception: if, when traversing the children of <absolute-ordering>, multiple children with the
same <name> element are encountered, only the first such occurrence must be considered.
If an <ordering> element appears in the applicationFacesConfig, an informative message must be logged and the
element must be ignored.
2. Relative ordering: an <ordering> element within a file in the applicationConfigurationResources

An entry in applicationConfigurationResources may have an <ordering> element. If so, this element must contain
zero or one <before> elements and zero or one <after> elements. The meaning of these elements is explained
below.
Duplicate name exception: if, when traversing the constituent members of applicationConfigurationResources,
multiple members with the same <name> element are encountered, the application must log an informative error
message including information to help fix the problem, and must fail to deploy. For example, one way to fix this
problem is for the user to use absolute ordering, in which case relative ordering is ignored.
If an <absolute-ordering> element appears in an entry in applicationConfigurationResources, an informative
message must be logged and the element must be ignored.
Consider this abbreviated but illustrative example. faces-configA, faces-configB and faces-configC are found in
applicationConfigurationResources, while my-faces-config is the applicationFacesConfig. The principles that explain
the ordering result follow the example code.
faces-configA:.
<faces-config>
<name>A</name>
<ordering><after><name>B</name></after></ordering>
<application>
<view-handler>com.a.ViewHandlerImpl</view-handler>
</application>
<lifecycle>
<phase-listener>com.a.PhaseListenerImpl</phase-listener>
</lifecycle>
</faces-config>

faces-configB:.
<faces-config>
<name>B</name>
<application>
<view-handler>com.b.ViewHandlerImpl</view-handler>
</application>
<lifecycle>
<phase-listener>com.b.PhaseListenerImpl</phase-listener>
</lifecycle>
</faces-config>
faces-configC:.
<faces-config>
<name>C</name>
<ordering><before><others /></before></ordering>
<application>
<view-handler>com.c.ViewHandlerImpl</view-handler>
</application>
<lifecycle>
<phase-listener>com.c.PhaseListenerImpl</phase-listener>
</lifecycle>
</faces-config>
my-faces-config:.
<faces-config>
<name>my</name>
<application>
<view-handler>com.my.ViewHandlerImpl</view-handler>
</application>
<lifecycle>
<phase-listener>com.my.PhaseListenerImpl</phase-listener>
</lifecycle>
</faces-config>
In this example, the processing order for the applicationConfigurationResources and applicationFacesConfig will be.
Implementation Specific Config

C
B
A
my
The preceding example illustrates some, but not all, of the following principles.[P1-start-decoratableOrdering]
? <before> means the document must be ordered before the document with the name matching the name specified
within the nested <name> element.
? <after> means the document must be ordered after the document with the name matching the name specified
within the nested <name> element.
? There is a special element <others /> which may be included zero or one time within the <before> or
<after> elements, or zero or one time directly within the <absolute-ordering> elements. The <others />
element must be handled as follows.

? The <others /> element represents a set of application configuration resources. This set is described as the set of
all application configuration resources discovered in the application, minus the one being currently processed, minus
the application configuration resources mentioned by name in the <ordering/> section. If this set is the empty set,
at the time the application configuration resources are being processed, the <others /> element must be ignored.
? If the <before> element contains a nested <others />, the document will be moved to the beginning of the
list of sorted documents. If there are multiple documents stating <before><others />, they will all be at the
beginning of the list of sorted documents, but the ordering within the group of such documents is unspecified.
? If the <after> element contains a nested <others />, the document will be moved to the end of the list of
sorted documents. If there are multiple documents requiring <after><others />, they will all be at the end of
the list of sorted documents, but the ordering within the group of such documents is unspecified.
? Within a <before> or <after> element, if an <others /> element is present, but is not the only <name>
element within its parent element, the other elements within that parent must be considered in the ordering process.
? If the <others /> element appears directly within the <absolute-ordering> element, the runtime must
ensure that any application configuration resources in applicationConfigurationResources not explicitly named in
the <absolute-ordering> section are included at that point in the processing order.
? If a faces-config file does not have an <ordering> or <absolute-ordering> element the artifacts are assumed
to not have any ordering dependency.
? If the runtime discovers circular references, an informative message must be logged, and the application must fail to
deploy. Again, one course of action the user may take is to use absolute ordering in the applicationFacesConfig.
The previous example can be extended to illustrate the case when applicationFacesConfig contains an ordering section.
my-faces-config:.
<faces-config>
<name>my</name>
<absolute-ordering>
<name>C</name>
<name>A</name>
</absolute-ordering>
<application>
<view-handler>com.my.ViewHandlerImpl</view-handler>
</application>
<lifecycle>
<phase-listener>com.my.PhaseListenerImpl</phase-listener>
</lifecycle>
</faces-config>
In this example, the constructor decorator ordering for ViewHandler would be C, A, my.
Some additional example scenarios are included below. All of these apply to the applicationConfigurationResources
relative ordering case, not to the applicationFacesConfig absolute ordering case.
Document A - <after><others/><name>C</name></after>
Document B - <before><others/></before>
Document C - <after><others/></after>
Document D - no ordering
Document E - no ordering
Document F - <before><others/><name>B</name></before>

The valid parse order is F, B, D/E, C, A, where D/E may appear as D, E or E, D
Document <no id> - <after><others/></after>

<before><name>C</name></before>
Document B - <before><others/></before>
Document C - no ordering
Document D - <after><others/></after>
Document E - <before><others/></before>
Document F - no ordering
The complete list of parse order solutions for the above example is
B,E,F,<no id>,C,D
B,E,F,<no_id>,D,C
E,B,F,<no id>,C,D
E,B,F,<no_id>,D,C
B,E,F,D,<no id>,C
E,B,F,D,<no id>,C
Document A - <after><name>B</name></after>
Document B - no ordering
Document C - <before><others/></before>
Doucment D - no ordering
Resulting parse order: C, B, D, A. The parse order could also be: C, D, B, A.
[P1-endDecoratableOrdering]

11.4.9 Example Application Configuration Resource
The following example application resource file defines a custom UIComponent of type Date, plus a number of
Renderers that know how to decode and encode such a component:
<?xml version=”1.0”?>
<faces-config version="1.2" xmlns=
"http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-facesconfig_1_2.xsd">

<component>
<description>
A custom component for rendering user-selectable dates in
various formats.
</description>
<display-name>My Custom Date</display-name>
<component-type>Date</component-type>
<component-class>
com.example.components.DateComponent
</component-class>
</component>

<render-kit>

<renderer>
<display-name>Calendar Widget</display-name>
<component-family>MyComponent</component-family>
<renderer-type>MyCalendar</renderer-type>
<renderer-class>
com.example.renderers.MyCalendarRenderer
</renderer-class>
</renderer>
<renderer>
<display-name>Month/Day/Year</display-name>
<renderer-type>MonthDayYear</renderer-type>
<renderer-class>
com.example.renderers.MonthDayYearRenderer
</renderer-class>
</renderer>
</render-kit>
</faces-config>
Additional examples of configuration elements that might be found in application configuration resources are in
Section 5.3.1 “Managed Bean Configuration Example” and Section 7.4.3 “Example NavigationHandler Configuration”.

11.5 Annotations that correspond to and may take the place of
entries in the Application Configuration Resources
An implementation must support several annotation types that take may take the place of entries in the Application
Configuration Resources. The implementation requirements are specified in this section.
11.5.1 Requirements for scanning of classes for annotations

? [P1_start-annotation-discovery]If the <faces-config> element in the WEB-INF/faces-config.xml file
contains metadata-complete attribute whose value is “true”, the implementation must not perform annotation
scanning on any classes except for those classes provided by the implementation itself. Otherwise, continue as
follows.
? If the runtime discovers a conflict between an entry in the Application Configuration Resources and an annotation, the
entry in the Application Configuration Resources takes precedence.
? All classes in WEB-INF/classes must be scanned.
? For every jar in the application's WEB-INF/lib directory, if the jar contains a “META-INF/faces-config.xml”
file or a file that matches the regular expression “.*\.faces-config.xml” (even an empty one), all classes in
that jar must be scanned.[P1_end-annotation-discovery]

12
Lifecycle Management
In Chapter 2 “Request Processing Lifecycle,” the required functionality of each phase of the request processing lifecycle
was described. This chapter describes the standard APIs used by JSF implementations to manage and execute the
lifecycle. Each of these classes and interfaces is part of the javax.faces.lifecycle package.
Page authors, component writers, and application developers, in general, will not need to be aware of the lifecycle
management APIs—they are primarily of interest to tool providers and JSF implementors.
12.1 Lifecycle
Upon receipt of each JSF-destined request to this web application, the JSF implementation must acquire a reference to
the Lifecycle instance for this web application, and call its execute() and render() methods to perform the
request processing lifecycle. The Lifecycle instance invokes appropriate processing logic to implement the required
functionality for each phase of the request processing lifecycle, as described in Section 2.2 “Standard Request Processing
Lifecycle Phases”.
public void execute(FacesContext context) throws FacesException;
public void render(FacesContext context) throws FacesException;
The execute() method performs phases up to, but not including, the Render Response phase. The render() method
performs the Render Response phase. This division of responsibility makes it easy to support JavaServer Faces
processing in a portlet-based environment.
As each phase is processed, registered PhaseListener instances are also notified. The general processing for each
phase is as follows:
? From the set of registered PhaseListener instances, select the relevant ones for the current phase, where
“relevant” means that calling getPhaseId() on the PhaseListener instance returns the phase identifier of the
current phase, or the special value PhaseId.ANY_PHASE.
? Call the beforePhase() method of each relevant listener, in the order that the listeners were registered.
? If no called listener called the FacesContext.renderResponse() or
FacesContext.responseComplete() method, execute the functionality required for the current phase.
? Call the afterPhase() method of each relevant listener, in the reverse of the order that the listeners were
registered.
? If the FacesContext.responseComplete() method has been called during the processing of the current
request, or we have just completed the Render Response phase, perform no further phases of the request processing
lifecycle.
Chapter 12 Lifecycle Management 12-1

? If the FacesContext.renderResponse() method has been called during the processing of the current request,
and we have not yet executed the Render Response phase of the request processing lifecycle, ensure that the next
executed phase will be Render Response
public void addPhaseListener(PhaseListener listener);
public void removePhaseListener(PhaseListener listener);
These methods register or deregister a PhaseListener that wishes to be notified before and after the processing of
each standard phase of the request processing lifecycle. Implementations should prevent duplicate PhaseListener
registrations and log an exception if an attempt is made. The webapp author can declare a PhaseListener to be added
using the phase-listener element of the application configuration resources file. Please see Section 12.3
“PhaseListener”.
12.2 PhaseEvent
This class represents the beginning or ending of processing for a particular phase of the request processing lifecycle, for
the request encapsulated by the FacesContext instance passed to our constructor.
public PhaseEvent(FacesContext context, PhaseId phaseId, Lifecycle

lifecycle);
Construct a new PhaseEvent representing the execution of the specified phase of the request processing lifecycle, on
the request encapsulated by the specified FacesContext instance. The Lifecycle instance must be the lifecycle
used by the current FacesServlet that is processing the request. It will serve as the source of the
java.util.EventObject from which PhaseEvent inherits.
public FacesContext getFacesContext();
Return the properties of this event instance. The specified FacesContext instance will also be returned if
getSource() (inherited from the base EventObject class) is called.
12.3 PhaseListener
This interface must be implemented by objects that wish to be notified before and after the processing for a particular
phase of the request processing lifecycle, on a particular request. Implementations of PhaseListener must be
programmed in a thread-safe manner.

The PhaseListener instance indicates for which phase of the request processing lifecycle this listener wishes to be
notified. If PhaseId.ANY_PHASE is returned, this listener will be notified for all standard phases of the request
public void beforePhase(PhaseEvent event);
public void afterPhase(PhaseEvent event);
The beforePhase() method is called before the standard processing for a particular phase is performed, while the
afterPhase() method is called after the standard processing has been completed. The JSF implementation must guarantee
that, if beforePhase() has been called on a particular instance, then afterPhase() will also be called, regardless
of any Exceptions that may have been thrown during the actual execution of the lifecycle phase. For example, let’s say
there are three PhaseListeners attached to the lifecycle: A, B, and C, in that order. A.beforePhase() is called, and
executes successfully. B.beforePhase() is called and throws an exception. [P1-start_publishExceptionBefore] Any
exceptions thrown during the beforePhase() listeners must be caught and published to the ExceptionHandler,
as described below.[P1-end_publishExceptionBefore] In this example, C.beforePhase() must not be called. Then
the actual lifecycle phase executes. Any exceptions thrown during the execution of the actual phase, that reach the
runtime code that implements the JSF lifecycle phase, [P1-start_publishExceptionDuring] must be caught and and
published to the ExceptionHandler, as described below[P1-end_publishExceptionDuring]. When the lifecycle phase
exits, due to an exeception or normal termination, the afterPhase() listeners must be called in reverse order from
the beforePhase() listeners in the following manner. C.afterPhase() must not be called, since
C.beforePhase() was not called. B.afterPhase() must not be called, since B.beforePhase()did not
execute successfully. A.afterPhase() must be called. [P1-start_publishExceptionAfter]Any exceptions thrown
during the afterPhase() liseteners must be caught and published to the ExceptionHandler, as described
below.[P1-start_publishExceptionAfter]
The previous paragraph detailed several cases where exceptions should be published to the Exception handler. [P1-
start_publishExceptionSpec] The following action must be taken by the runtime to implement this requirement as well as
an additional requirent to cause the ExceptionHandler to take action on the published Exception(s). The
specification is shown in pseudocode. This code does not implement the before/after matching guarantees specified

above and is only intended to describe the specification for publishing and handling ExceptionQueuedEvent
instances that arise from exceptions being thrown during the execution of a lifecycle phase. Methods shown in
thisTypeface() are not a part of the API and are just included for discussion.
FacesContext facesContext = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();

Application app = facesContext.getApplication();
ExceptionHandler handler = facesContext.getExceptionHandler();
try {
callBeforePhaseListeners();
} catch (Throwable thrownException) {
javax.faces.event.ExceptionEventContext eventContext =
new ExceptionEventContext(thrownException, null,
facesContext.getPhaseId());
eventContext.getAttributes().put(EventContext.IN_BEFORE_PHASE,
Boolean.TRUE);
app.publishEvent(ExceptionQueuedEvent.class, eventContext);
}
try {
doCurrentPhase();
} finally {
try {
callAfterPhaseListeners();
eventContext.getAttributes().put(EventContext.IN_AFTER_PHASE,
Boolean.TRUE);
}
handler.handle();
}
body text.
[P1-end_publishExceptionSpec]
PhaseListener implementations may affect the remainder of the request processing lifecycle in several ways,
including:
? Calling renderResponse() on the FacesContext instance for the current request, which will cause control to
transfer to the Render Response phase of the request processing lifecycle, once processing of the current phase is
complete.
? Calling responseComplete() on the FacesContext instance for the current request, which causes processing of the
request processing lifecycle to terminate once the current phase is complete.

12.4 LifecycleFactory
A single instance of javax.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleFactory must be made available to each JSF-based
web application running in a servlet or portlet container. The factory instance can be acquired by JSF implementations or
by application code, by executing:
LifecycleFactory factory = (LifecycleFactory)

FactoryFinder.getFactory(FactoryFinder.LIFECYCLE_FACTORY);
The LifecycleFactory implementation class supports the following methods:
public void addLifecycle(String lifecycleId, Lifecycle lifecycle);
Register a new Lifecycle instance under the specified lifecycle identifier, and make it available via calls to the
getLifecycle method for the remainder of the current web application’s lifetime.
public Lifecycle getLifecycle(String lifecycleId);
The LifecycleFactory implementation class provides this method to create (if necessary) and return a Lifecycle
instance. All requests for the same lifecycle identifier from within the same web application will return the same
Lifecycle instance, which must be programmed in a thread-safe manner.
Every JSF implementation must provide a Lifecycle instance for a default lifecycle identifier that is designated by the
String constant LifecycleFactory.DEFAULT_LIFECYCLE. For advanced uses, a JSF implementation may
support additional lifecycle instances, named with unique lifecycle identifiers.
public Iterator<String> getLifecycleIds();
This method returns an iterator over the set of lifecycle identifiers supported by this factory. This set must include the
value specified by LifecycleFactory.DEFAULT_LIFECYCLE.

13
Ajax Integration
This chapter of the specification describes how Ajax integrates with the JavaServer Faces framework to create dynamic
web applications. JavaServer Faces 1.2 standardized portions of the architecture to facilitate building Web 2.0
applications with Ajax. This chapter describes the resources and JavaScript APIs that are used to expose the Ajax
capabilities of JavaServer Faces to page authors and component authors. It also describes the necessary ingredients of a
JavaServer Faces Ajax framework, namely, a resource delivery mechanism, partial tree traversal, partial page update.
13.1 JavaScript Resource

There must be a single JavaScript resource that exists with the resource identifier given by the value of the constant
javax.faces.application.ResourceHandler.JSF_SCRIPT_RESOURCE_NAME and it must exist under the
resource library given by the value of the constant
javax.faces.application.ResourceHandler.JSF_SCRIPT_LIBRARY_NAME, following the conventions
in Section 2.6 “Resource Handling”. This resource contains the JavaScript APIs that facilitate Ajax
interaction with JavaServer Faces.
13.1.1 JavaScript Resource Loading

The JavaScript resource can become available to a JavaServer Faces application using a number of different approaches.
13.1.1.1 The Annotation Approach

Component authors can specify that a custom component or renderer requires the Ajax resource with the use of the
ResourceDependency annotation.
@ResourceDependency (name="jsf.js", library="javax.faces",

target="head")
public class MyComponent extends UIOutput...
For more information on this approach refer to Section 2.6.2.1 “Relocatable Resources” and Section 2.6.2.2 “Resource
Rendering Using Annotations”.
Chapter 13 Ajax Integration 13-1

13.1.1.2 The Resource API Approach
Component authors can also specify that a custom component or renderer requires the JavaScript resource by using the
resource APIs. For example, a component or renderer’s encode method may contain:
Resource resource = context.getApplication().getResourceHandler()

.createResource(“jsf.js”, “javax.faces”);
...
writer.startElement("script", component);
writer.writeAttribute("type", "text/javascript", "type");
writer.writeAttribute("src",((resource != null)?
resource.getRequestPath(): "RES_NOT_FOUND"),”src”);
writer.endElement(“script”);
Script resources are relocatable resources (see Section 2.6.2.1 “Relocatable Resources”) which means you can control the
rendering location for these resources by setting the “target” attribute on the resource component:
public class MyComponent extends UIOutput {

...
getAttributes().put(“target”, “head”);
...
}
This attribute must be set before the component is added to the view. The component or renderer must also implement
the event processing method:
public void processEvent(SystemEvent event) throws

AbortProcessingException {
UIComponent component = (UIComponent) event.getSource();
FacesContext context = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();
if (component.getAttributes().get("target") != null) {
context.getViewRoot().addComponentResource(context,
component);
}
}
When the component is added to the view, an event will be published. This event handling method will add the
component resource to one of the resource location facets under the view root so it will be in place before rendering.

13.1.1.3 The Page D eclaration Language Approach
Page authors can make the Ajax resource available to the current view using the outputScript tag. For example:
<f:view contentType=”text/html”/>
<h:head>
<meta...
<title...
</h:head>
<h:body>
...
<h:outputScript name=”jsf.js” library=”javax.faces”
target=”body”/>
...
</h:body>
...
13.2 JavaScript Namespacing

JavaScript objects that are not enclosed within a namespace are global, which means they run the risk of interfering,
overriding and/or clobbering previously defined JavaScript objects. This section defines the requirements for
implementations intending to use the JavaServer Faces 2.0 JavaScript API.
[P1-start javascript namespace]Any implementation that intends to use the JavaServer Faces 2.0 JavaScript API must
define a top level JavaScript object name jsf, whose type is a JavaScript associative array. Within that top level
JavaScript object, there must be a property named ajax..
if (jsf == null || typeof jsf == "undefined") {

var jsf = new Object();
}
if (jsf.ajax == null || typeof jsf.ajax == "undefined") {
jsf["ajax"] = new Object();
}
[P1-end]
13.3 Ajax Interaction

This section of the specification outlines the Ajax JavaScript APIs that are used to initiate client side interactions with
the JavaServer Faces framework including partial tree traversal and partial page update. All of the functions in this
JavaScript API will be exposed on a page scoped JavaScript object. Refer to Chapter 14 “JavaScript APIfor details about
the individual API functions.

13.3.1 Sending an Ajax Request
The JavaScript function jsf.ajax.request is used to send information to the server to control partial view
processing (Section 13.4.2 “Partial View Processing”) and partial view rendering (Section 13.4.3 “Partial View
Rendering”). All requests using the jsf.ajax.request function will be made asynchronously to the server. Refer to
Section 14.2 “Initiating an Ajax Request”.
13.3.2 Ajax Request Queueing

[P1-start-ajaxrequest-queue] All Ajax requests must be put into a client side request queue before they are sent to the
server to ensure Ajax requests are processed in the order they are sent. The request that has been waiting in the queue the
longest is the next request to be sent. After a request is sent, the Ajax request callback function must remove the request
from the queue (also known as dequeuing). If the request completed successfully, it must be removed from the queue. If
there was an error, the client must be notified, but the request must still be removed from the queue so the next request
can be sent. The next request (the oldest request in the queue) must be sent. Refer to the jsf.ajax.request
JavaScript documentation for more specifics about the Ajax request queue.[P1-end]
13.3.3 Request Callback Function

The Ajax request callback function is called when the Ajax request/response interaction is complete. [P1-start-
callback]This function must perform the following actions:
? If the return status is >= 200 and < 300, send a “complete” event following Section 13.3.5.3 “Sending Events”. Call
jsf.ajax.response passing the Ajax request object (for example the XMLHttpRequest instance) and the
request context (containing the source DOM element, onevent event function callback and onerror error
function callback).
? If the return status is outside the range mentioned above, send a “complete” event following Section 13.3.5.3
“Sending Events”. Send an “httpError” error following Section 13.3.6.3 “Signaling Errors”.
? Regardless of whether the request completed successfully or not:
? remove the completed requests (Ajax readystate 4) from the request queue (dequeue) - specifically the requests
that have been on the queue the longest.
? find the next oldest unprocessed (Ajax readystate 0) request on the queue, and send it. The implementation must
ensure that the request that is sent does not enter the queue again.[P1-end]
Refer to Section 13.3.4 “Receiving The Ajax Response”. Also refer to the jsf.ajax.request JavaScript
documentation for more specifics about the request callback function.
13.3.4 Receiving The Ajax Response

The jsf.ajax.response function is responsible for examining the markup that is returned from the server and
updating the client side DOM. The Ajax request callback function should call this function when a request completes
successfully. [P1-start-ajaxresponse]The implementation of jsf.ajax.response must handle the response as outlined
in the JavaScript documentation for jsf.ajax.response. The elements in the response must be processed in the
order they appear in the response.[P1-end]
13.3.5 Monitoring Events On The Client

JavaScript functions can be registered to be notified during various stages of the Ajax request/response cycle. Functions
can be set up to monitor individual Ajax requests, and functions can also be set up to monitor all Ajax requests.

13.3.5.1 Monitoring Events For An Ajax Request
There are two ways to monitor events for a single Ajax request by registering an event callback function:
? By using the <f:ajax> tag with the onevent attribute.
? By using the JavaScript API function jsf.ajax.request with onevent as an option.
Refer to Section 10.4.1.1 “<f:ajax>” for details on the use of the <f:ajax> tag approach. Refer to Section 14.2
“Initiating an Ajax Request” for details about using the jsf.ajax.request function approach. [P1-start-event-
request]The implementation must ensure the JavaScript function that is registered for an Ajax request must be called in
accordance with the events outlined in Section TABLE 14-3 “Events”.[P1-end]
13.3.5.2 Monitoring Events For All Ajax Requests

The JavaScript API provides the jsf.ajax.addOnEvent function that can be used to register a JavaScript function
that will be notified when any Ajax request/response event occurs. Refer to Section 14.4 “Registering Callback
Functions” for more details. The jsf.ajax.addOnEvent function accepts a JavaScript function argument that will be
notified when events occur during any Ajax request/response event cycle. [P1-start-event] The implementation must
ensure the JavaScript function that is registered must be called in accordance with the events outlined in
Section TABLE 14-3 “Events”.[P1-end]
13.3.5.3 Sending Events

[P1-start-event-send]The implementation must send events to the runtime as follows:
? Construct a data payload for events using the properties described in Section TABLE 14-4 “Event Data Payload”.
? If an event handler function was registered with the “onevent” attribute (Section 13.3.5.1 “Monitoring Events For An
Ajax Request”) call it passing the data payload.
? If any event handling functions were registered with the “addOnEvent” function (Section 13.3.5.2 “Monitoring Events
For All Ajax Requests”) call them passing the data payload.[P1-end]
13.3.6 Handling Errors On the Client

JavaScript functions can be registered to be notified when Ajax requests complete with error status codes from the server
to give implementations a chance to handle the errors. Functions can be set up to handle errors from individual Ajax
requests and functions can be setup to handle errors for all Ajax requests.
13.3.6.1 Handling Errors For An Ajax Request

There are two ways to handle errors for a single Ajax request by registering an error callback function:
? By using the <f:ajax> tag with the onerror attribute.
? By using the JavaScript API function jsf.ajax.request with onerror as an option.
Refer to Section 10.4.1.1 “<f:ajax>” for details on the use of the <f:ajax> tag approach. Refer to Section 14.2
“Initiating an Ajax Request” for details about using the jsf.ajax.request function approach. [P1-start-event-
request]The implementation must ensure the JavaScript function that is registered for an Ajax request must be called in
accordance when the request status code from the server is as outlined in Section TABLE 14-5 “Errors”.[P1-end]

13.3.6.2 Handling Errors For All Ajax Requests
The JavaScript API provides the jsf.ajax.addOnError function that can be used to register a JavaScript function
that will be notified when an error occurs for any Ajax request/response. Refer to Section 14.4 “Registering Callback
Functions” for more details. The jsf.ajax.addOnError function accepts a JavaScript function argument that will be
notified when errors occur during any Ajax request/response cycle. [P1-start-event] The implementation must ensure the
JavaScript function that is registered must be called in accordance with the errors outlined in Section TABLE 14-5
“Errors”.[P1-end]
13.3.6.3 Signaling Errors

[P1-start-error-signal]The implementation must signal errors to the runtime as follows:
? Construct a data payload for errors using the properties described in Section TABLE 14-6 “Error Data Payload”.
? If an error handler function was registered with the “onerror” attribute (Section 13.3.6.1 “Handling Errors For An
Ajax Request”) call it passing the data payload.
? If any error handling functions were registered with the “addOnError” function (Section 13.3.6.2 “Handling Errors
For All Ajax Requests”) call them passing the data payload.
? If the project stage is “development” (see Section 14.5 “Determining An Application’s Project Stage”) use JavaScript
“alert” to signal the error(s).[P1-end]
13.3.7 Handling Errors On The Server

JavaServer Faces handles exceptions on the server as outlined in Section 6.2 “ExceptionHandler”. [P1-start-error-
server]JavaServer Faces Ajax frameworks must ensure exception information is written to the response in the format:
<partial-response id="j_id1">
<error>
<error-name>...</error-name>
<error-message>...</error-message>
</error>
</partial-response>
? Extract the “class” from the “Throwable” object and write that as the contents of error-name in the response.
? Extract the “cause” from the “Throwable” object if it is available and write that as the contents of error-message
in the response. If “cause” is not available, write the string returned from “Throwable.getMessage()”.
Implementations must ensure that an ExceptionHandler suitable for writing exceptions to the partial response is installed
if the current request required an Ajax response (PartialViewContext.isAjaxRequest() returns true).[P1-end]
Implementations may choose to include a specialized ExceptionHandler for Ajax that extends from
javax.faces.context.ExceptionHandlerWrapper, and have the
javax.faces.context.ExceptionHandlerFactory implementation install it if the environment requires it.
13.4 Partial View Traversal

The JavaServer Faces lifecycle, can be viewed as consisting of an execute phase and a render phase.

Partial traversal is the technique that can be used to “visit” one or more components in the view, potentially to have them
pass through the “execute” and/or “render” phases of the request processing lifecycle. This is a key feature for JSF and
Ajax frameworks and it allows selected components in the view to be processed and/or rendered. There are a variety of
JSF Ajax frameworks available, and they all perform some variation of partial traversal.
13.4.1 Partial Traversal Strategy

Frameworks use a partial traversal strategy to perform partial view processing and partial view rendering. This
specification does not dictate the use of a specific partial traversal strategy. However, frameworks must implement their
desired strategy by implementing the PartialViewContext.processPartial method. Refer to the JavaDocs for details about
this method.
13.4.2 Partial View Processing

Partial view processing allows selected components to be processed through the “execute” portion of the lifecycle.
Although the diagram in Section 13.4 “Partial View Traversal” depicts the “execute” portion as encompassing everything
except the “Render Response Phase”, for the purposas of an ajax request, the execute portion of the lifecycle is the
“Apply Request Values Phase”, “Update Model Values Phase” and “Process Validations Phase”. Partial view processing
on the server is triggered by a request from the client. The request does not have to be an Ajax request. The request
contains special parameters that indicate the request is a partial execute request (not triggered by Ajax) or a partial
execute request that was triggered using Ajax. The client also sends a set of client ids of the components that must be
processed through the execute phase of the request processing lifecycle. Refer to Section 13.3.1 “Sending an Ajax
Request” about the request sending details. The FacesContext has methods for retrieving the
PartialViewContext instance for the request. The PartialViewContext may also be retrieved by using the
PartialViewContextFactory class. The XML schema allows for the definition of a
PartialViewContextFactory using the “partial-view-context-factory” element. Refer to the partial response
schema in the Javadoc section of the spec for more information on this element. The PartialViewContext has
properties and methods that indicate the request is a partial request based on the values of these special request
parameters. Refer to the JavaDocs for javax.faces.context.PartialViewContext and Section 6.1.11 “Partial View Context”
for the specifics of the PartialViewContext constants and methods that facilitate partial processing. [P1-start-
partialExec]The UIViewRoot processDecodes, processValidators and processUpdates methods must
determine if the request is a partial request using the
FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getPartialViewContext().isPartialRequest() method. If
FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getPartialViewContext().isPartialRequest() returns true,
then the implementation of these methods must retrieve a PartialViewContext instance and invoke
PartialViewContext.processPartial. Refer to Section 2.2.2 “Apply Request Values”,

Section 2.2.2.1 “Apply Request Values Partial Processing”, Section 2.2.3 “Process
Validations”, Section 2.2.3.1 “Partial Validations Partial Processing”, Section 2.2.4
“Update Model Values”, Section 2.2.4.1 “Update Model Values Partial Processing”.[P1-end]
13.4.3 Partial View Rendering

Partial view rendering on the server is triggered by a request from the client. It allows one or more components in the
view to perform the encoding process. The request contains special parameters that indicate the request is a partial
render request. The client also sends a set of client ids of the components that must be processed by the render
phase of the request processing lifecycle. Refer to Section 13.3.1 “Sending an Ajax Request” about the request sending
details. The PartialViewContext has methods that indicate the request is a partial request based on the values of
these special request parameters. Refer to Section 6.1.10 “Partial Processing Methods” for the specifics of the
FacesContext constants and methods that facilitate partial processing. [P1-start-partialRender]The UIViewRoot
getRendersChildren and encodeChildren methods must determine if the request is an Ajax request using the
FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getPartialViewContext().isAjaxRequest() method. If
PartialViewContext.isAjaxRequest() returns true, then the getRendersChildren method must return
true and the encodeChildren method must perform partial rendering using the
PartialViewContext.processPartial implementation. Refer to the JavaDocs for
UIViewRoot.encodeChildren for specific details.[P1-end]
13.4.4 Sending The Response to The Client

The Ajax response (also known as partial response) is formulated and sent to the client during the Render Response
phase of the request processing lifecycle. The partial response consists of markup rendered by one or more components.
The response should be in a common format so JavaScript clients can interpret the markup in a consistent way - an
important requirement for component compatability. The agreed upon format and content type for the partial response is
XML. This means there should be a ResponseWriter suitable for writing the response in XML. The
UIViewRoot.encodeChildren method delegates to a partial traversal strategy. The partial traversal strategy
implementation produces the partial response. The markup that is sent to the client must contain elements that the client
can recognize. In addition to the markup produced by server side components, the response must contain “instructions”
for the client to interpret, so the client will know, for example, that it is to add new markup to the client DOM, or update
existing areas of the DOM. When the response is sent back to the client, it must contain the view state. [P1-start-sending-
response]Implementations must adhere to the response format as specified in the JavaScript docs for
jsf.ajax.response.[P1-end] Refer to the XML schema definition in the Section 1.3 “XML Schema Definition for
Composite Components” section. This XML schema is another important area for component library compatability.
13.4.4.1 Writing The Partial Response

JavaServer Faces provides javax.faces.context.PartialResponseWriter to ensure the Ajax response that is
written follows the standard format as specified in Section 1.3 “XML Schema Definition for Composite Components”.
Implementations must take care to properly handle nested CDATA sections when writing the response.
PartialResponseWriter decorates an existing ResponseWriter implementation by extending
javax.faces.context.ResponseWriterWrapper. Refer to the
javax.faces.context.PartialResponseWriter JavaDocs, and the JavaScript documentation for the
jsf.ajax.response function for more specifics.

14
JavaScript API
This chapter of the specification describes the JavaScript functions that are used to facilitate Ajax operations in a
JavaServer Faces framework. All of these functions are contained in the canonical jsf.js file.
14.1 Collecting and Encoding View State

In JavaServer Faces 1.2 the javax.faces.ViewState parameter was standardized to facilitate “postback” requests to
the server in a JavaServer Faces application. Implementations must use this parameter to save the view state between
requests. Refer to the Javadocs for javax.faces.render.ResponseStateManager.
Collecting and encoding view state that will be sent to the server is a common operation used by most JavaServer Faces
Ajax frameworks. When a JavaServer Faces view is rendered, it will contain a hidden field with the identifier
javax.faces.ViewState whose value contains the state for the current view. JSF Ajax clients collect additional
view state, combine it with the current view state and send it’s encoded form to the server.
jsf.getViewState(FORM_ELEMENT)
Collect and encode element data for the given FORM_ELEMENT and return it as the view state that will be sent to the
server. FORM_ELEMENT is the identifier for a DOM form element. All input elements of type “hidden” should be
included in the collection and encoding process.
? Encode the name and value for each input element of FORM_ELEMENT. Only select elements that have at least one
of their options selected must be included. only checkbox elements that are checked must be included.
? Find the element identified as javax.faces.ViewState in the specified FORM_ELEMENT and encode the name
and value.
? Return a concatenated String of the encoded input elements and javax.faces.ViewState element.
14.1.1 Use Case

Collect and Encode Elements Of a Form
var viewState = jsf.getViewState(form);
Chapter 14 JavaScript API 14-1

14.2 Initiating an Ajax Request
jsf.ajax.request(source, |event|, { |OPTIONS| });
The jsf.ajax.request function is responsible for sending an Ajax request to the server. [P1-start-ajaxrequest]The
requirements for this function are as follows:
? The request must be sent asynchronously
? The request must be sent with method type POST
? The request URL will be the form action attribute
? All requests will be queued with the use of a client side request queue to help ensure request ordering
? [P1-end]
14.2.1 Usage
Typically, this function is attached as a JavaScript event handler (such as “onclick”).
<ANY_HTML_OR_JSF_ELEMENT
on|EVENT|="jsf.ajax.request(source, event,
{ |OPTIONS| });" />
The function arguments are as follows:
source is the DOM element that triggered this Ajax request. [P1-start-source]It must be a DOM element object or a
string identifier for a DOM element. [P1-end]The event argument is the JavaScript event object. The optional
|OPTIONS| argument is a JavaScript associative object array that may contain the following name/value pairs:
TABLE 14-1 request OPTIONS
Name Value
execute A space delimited list of client identifiers or one of the keywords
(Section 14.2.2 “Keywords”). These reference the components that will be
processed during the “execute” portion of the request processing lifecycle.
render A space delimited list of client identifiers or one of the keywords
(Section 14.2.2 “Keywords”). These reference the components that will be
processed during the “render” portion of the request processing lifecycle.
onevent A String that is the name of the JavaScript function to call when an event
occurs.
onerror A String that is the name of the JavaScript function to call when an error
occurs.
params An object that may include additional parameters to include in the request.

14.2.2 Keywords
The following keywords can be used for the value of the “execute” and “render” attributes:
TABLE 14-2 Execute / Render Keywords
Keyword Description
@all All component identifiers
@none No identifiers
@this The element that triggered the request
@form The enclosing form
14.2.3 Default Values

Values for the execute and render attributes are not required. When using the JavaScript API, the default values
for execute is @this. The default value for render is @none.
<h:commandButton id=”button1” value=”submit”>

onclick="jsf.ajax.request(this,event);" />
is the same as:
onclick="jsf.ajax.request(this,event,
{execute:’@this’,render:’@this’});" />

onclick="jsf.ajax.request(this,event, {execute:’@this’});" />
is the same as:
onclick="jsf.ajax.request(this,event, {execute:’button1’});" />
Refer to Section 10.4.1.1 “<f:ajax>” for the default values for the execute and render attributes when they are
used with the core “<f:ajax>” tag.
14.2.4 Request Sending Specifics

The mechanics of sending an Ajax request becomes very important to promote component compatability. Even more
important, is standardizing on the post data that is sent to server implementations, so they all can expect the same
arguments. [P1-start-ajaxrequest-send]The request header must be set with the name Faces-Request and the value
partial/ajax. Specifics of formulating post data and sending the request must be followed as outlined in the
JavaScript documentation for the jsf.ajax.request function. The post data arguments that must be sent are:
Name Value
javax.faces.ViewState The value of the javax.faces.ViewState hidden field. This is included when
using the jsf.getViewState function.
javax.faces.partial.ajax true
javax.faces.source The identifier of the element that is the source of this request

? [P1-end]
14.2.5 Use Case

<h:commandbutton id="submit" value="submit"
onclick="jsf.ajax.request(this, event,
{execute:'submit',render:'outtext'}); return false;" />
This use case assumes there is another component in the view with the identifier outtext.
14.3 Processing The Ajax Response

jsf.ajax.response(request, context);
The jsf.ajax.response function is called when a request completes successfully. This typically means that returned
status code is >= 200 and < 300. The jsf.ajax.response function must extract the XML response from the
request argument. The XML response is expected to follow the format that is outlined in the JavaScript
documentation for this function. The response format is an “instruction set” telling this function how it should update the
DOM. The context argument contains properties that facilitate event and error processing such as the source DOM
element (the DOM element that triggered the Ajax request), onevent (the event handling callback for the request) and
onerror (the error handling callback for the request). [P1-start-ajaxresponse] The specifics details of this function’s
operation must follow the jsf.ajax.response JavaScript documentation.[P1-end]
14.4 Registering Callback Functions

The JavaScript API allows you to register callback functions for Ajax request/response event monitoring and error
handling. The event callbacks become very useful when monitoring request connection status. The error callback
provides a convenient way for implementions to trap errors. The handling of the errors is left up to the implementation.
These callback function names can also be set using the JavaScript API (Section TABLE 14-1 “request OPTIONS”), and
the core <f:ajax> tag (Section 10.4.1.1 “<f:ajax>”).

14.4.1 Request/Response Event Handling
jsf.ajax.addOnEvent(callback);
The callback argument must be a reference to an existing JavaScript function that will handle the events. The events
that can be handled are:
TABLE 14-3 Events
Event Name Description
begin Occurs immediately before the request is sent.

complete Occurs immediately after the request has completed. For successful
requests, this is immediately before javax.faces.response is called. For
unsuccessful requests, this is immediately before the error handling
callback is invoked.
success Occurs immediately after jsf.ajax.response has completed.
The callback function has access to the following “data payload”:.
TABLE 14-4 Event Data Payload
Name Description/Value
type “event”
status One of the events specified in TABLE 14-3
source The DOM element that triggered the Ajax request.
responseCode Ajax request object ‘status’ (XMLHttpRequest.status); Not present
for “begin” event;
responseXML The XML response (XMLHttpRequest.responseXML); Not
present for “begin” event;
responseText The text response (XMLHttpResponse.responseText) Not present
for “begin” event;
14.4.1.1 Use Case

An event listener can be installed from JavaScript in this manner.
function statusUpdate(data) {
// do something with data.status or other parts of data payload
}
...
jsf.ajax.addOnEvent(statusUpdate);
An event listener can be installed from markup in this manner.
<f:ajax ... onevent="statusUpdate" />

14.4.2 Error Handling
jsf.ajax.addOnError(callback);
The callback argument must be a reference to an existing JavaScript function that will handle errors from the server.
TABLE 14-5 Errors
Error Name Description
httpError request status==null or request.status==undefined or request.status<200 or

request.status >=300
serverError The Ajax response contains an “error” element.
malformedXML The Ajax response does not follow the proper format. See Section 1.3
“XML Schema Definition for Composite Components”
emptyResponse There was no Ajax response from the server.
The callback function has access to the following “data payload”:.
TABLE 14-6 Error Data Payload
Name Description/Value
type “error”
status One of error names defined TABLE 14-5
description Text describing the error
source The DOM element that triggered the Ajax request.
responseCode Ajax request object ‘status’ (XMLHttpRequest.status);
responseXML The XML response (XMLHttpRequest.responseXML)
responseText The text response (XMLHttpResponse.responseTxt)
errorName The error name taken from the Ajax response “error” element.
errorMessage The error messages taken from the Ajax response “error” element.
14.4.2.1 Use Case
jsf.ajax.addOnError(handleError);
...
var handleError = function handleError(data) {
... do something with “data payload” ...
}

14.5 Determining An Application’s Project Stage
jsf.getProjectStage();
[P1-start-projStage]This function must return the constant representing the current state of the running application in a
typical product development lifecycle. The returned value must be the value returned from the server side method
javax.faces.application.Application.getProjectStage(); Refer to Section 7.1.9 “ProjectStage
Property” for more details about this property.[P1-end]
14.5.1 Use Case

var projectStage = javax.faces.Ajax.getProjectStage();
if (projectStage == “Production”) {
.... throw exception
else if (projectStage == “Development”) {
.... send an alert for debugging
}
14.6 Script Chaining

jsf.util.chain(source, event, |<script>, <script>,...|)
This utility function invokes an arbitrary number of scripts in sequence. If any of the scripts return false, subsequent
scripst will not be executed. The arguments are:
? source - The DOM element that triggered this Ajax request, or an id string of the element to use as the triggering
element.
? event - The DOM event that triggered this Ajax request. A value does not have to be specified for this argument.
The variable number of script arguments follow the source and event arguments. Refer to the JavaScript API
documentation in the source for more details.

A
Appendix A - JSF Metadata
The XML Schema Definition for Application Configuration Resource files is included in a web browser optimized
format along with the Javadoc. That is the canonical location of the schemas in the specification.
1.1 Required Handling of *-extension elements in the

application configuration resources files
As specified in the XML Schema for Application Configuration Resources, many of the elements in the file have *-
extension elements declared in a similar fashion to this one for the faces-config-extension:
<xsd:complexType name = "faces-config-extensionType">

<xsd:annotation>
<xsd:documentation>
Extension element for faces-config. It may contain
implementation specific content.
</xsd:documentation>
</xsd:annotation>
<xsd:sequence>
<xsd:any namespace="##any"
processContents="lax"
minOccurs="0"
maxOccurs="unbounded" />
</xsd:sequence>
<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID"/>
</xsd:complexType>
This section specifies the required handling of such elements.
Note that it is normal for an application to have several application configuration resources files. If multiple such
resource files have conflicting *-extension elements, the last element processed takes precedence over preceding
elements. Processing order can be controlled as specified in Section 11.4.8 “Ordering of Artifacts”.
1.1.1 faces-config-extension handling

If an application configuration resource contains a faces-config-extension element, the children of the element
must be inspected for containing well-formed XML conforming to the syntax specified in the following subsection(s).
DTD syntax is used for convenience since the content of a *-extension element may not be constrained due to its
declaration as containing <xsd:any>.
Chapter A Appendix A - JSF Metadata A-1

1.1.1.1 The facelets-processing element
DTD syntax..
<!ELEMENT facelets-processing (file-extension, process-as) >

<!ELEMENT file-extension ANY>
<!ELEMENT process-as ANY>
The <facelets-processing> element is used to affect the processing of Facelets VDL files. Therefore, this setting
only applies to those requests that reach the Facelets ViewDeclarationLanguage implementation, as specified to
the runtime via the javax.faces.FACELETS_VIEW_MAPPINGS and javax.faces.DEFAULT_SUFFIX
<context-param> entries. The specification defines three processing modes for Facelets files: Facelets XHTML
syntax, XML View syntax, and Facelets JSPX syntax. This last syntax is intended to ease the migration to Facelets for
applications already using the JSP document syntax (also known as JSPX syntax). The affect on the processing of files
in each of these three modes is specified in the following table.
TABLE 1-1 Valid <process-as> values and their implications on the processing of Facelet VDL files.
<process- <process- <process- <process-

as>html5</process-as> as>xhtml</process-as> as>xml</process-as> as>jspx</process-as>
HTML 5 (default) Facelets XHTML XML View Facelets JSPX
XML Doctype Simplified to passed through consumed consumed

<!DOCTYPE html>
XML passed through passed through consumed consumed
declaration
Processing passed through passed through consumed consumed
instructions
CDATA section passed through passed through consumed consumed
start and end
tags
Escaping of escaped escaped escaped not escaped
inline text
XML passed through passed through consumed consumed
Comments
In the preceding table, “passed through” means that the content is passed through unmodified to the user agent.
“consumed” means the content is silently consumed on the server. Note that for CDATA sections, the content of the
CDATA section itself is passed through, even if the start and end tags should be consumed. “escaped” means that
sensivite content in the response is automatically escaped: & becomes &, for example. “not escaped” means that
such content is not escaped.
A-2 JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

The content of the <file-extension> element is particular to the file extension of the physical resource for the
Facelets VDL content, as specified in the javax.faces.FACELETS_VIEW_MAPPINGS and
javax.faces.DEFAULT_SUFFIX <context-param> elements. Consider the following example faces-
config.xml.
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>

<faces-config
version="2.1">
<faces-config-extension>
<facelets-processing>
<file-extension>.jspx</file-extension>
<process-as>jspx</process-as>
</facelets-processing>
<facelets-processing>
<file-extension>.view.xml</file-extension>
<process-as>xml</process-as>
</facelets-processing>
</faces-config-extension>
</faces-config>
And web.xml content
<context-param>
<param-name>javax.faces.FACELETS_VIEW_MAPPINGS</param-name>
<param-value>*.xhtml;*.view.xml;*.jspx</param-value>
</context-param>
<context-param>
<param-name>javax.faces.DEFAULT_SUFFIX</param-name>
<param-value>.xhtml .view.xml .jsp .jspx</param-value>
</context-param>
This configuration states that .xhtml, .view.xml, and .jspx files must be treated as Facelets VDL files declares the
processing mode of .jspx files to be jspx and declares the processing mode of .view.xml files to be xml.
1.2 XML Schema Definition For Facelet Taglib

The XML Schema Definition for Facelet Taglib is included in a web browser optimized format along with the Javadoc.
That is the canonical location of the schemas in the specification.

[P1_start_facelet_taglib_decl]To ease migration for Facelet taglibraries declared using pre-JSF 2.0 versions of Facelets,
implementations must support loading facelet taglibrary files that conform to the pre-JSF 2.0 Facelets DTD. Per DTD
conventions, Facelet taglibrary files declare conformance to this DTD by including text similar to the following in at the
top of their declaring file.
<!DOCTYPE facelet-taglib PUBLIC

"-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD Facelet Taglib 1.0//EN"
"http://java.sun.com/dtd/facelet-taglib_1_0.dtd">
Use of this DTD is officially deprecated. This DTD is included for reference in Section 1.2.1 “Deprecated DTD for
Facelet Taglibraries Used by Versions of Facelets Prior to JSF 2.0”. It is expected that proper JSF 2.0 Facelet Taglibraries
will declare conformance to the following schema, rather than the deprecated DTD.[P1_end_facelet_taglib_decl]
1.2.1 Deprecated DTD for Facelet Taglibraries Used by Versions of Facelets

Prior to JSF 2.0
This DTD is deprecated and is included so implementors will have a reference.
<!ELEMENT facelet-taglib (library-class|(namespace,(tag|function)+))>
<!ATTLIST facelet-taglib xmlns CDATA #FIXED "http://java.sun.com/JSF/Facelet">
<!ELEMENT namespace (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT library-class (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT tag (tag-name,(handler-class|component|converter|validator|source))>
<!ELEMENT tag-name (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT handler-class (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT component (component-type,renderer-type?,handler-class?)>
<!ELEMENT component-type (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT renderer-type (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT converter (converter-id, handler-class?)>
<!ELEMENT converter-id (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT validator (validator-id, handler-class?)>
<!ELEMENT validator-id (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT source (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT function (function-name,function-class,function-signature)>
<!ELEMENT function-name (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT function-class (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT function-signature (#PCDATA)>
1.3 XML Schema Definition for Composite Components

<xsd:schema
targetNamespace="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
xmlns:javaee="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"

xmlns:xml="http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace"
elementFormDefault="qualified"
attributeFormDefault="unqualified"
version="2.0">
<xsd:annotation>
<xsd:documentation>
$Id: web-facesuicomponent_2_0.xsd,v 1.1.8.2 2008/03/20 21:12:50 edburns Exp $
</xsd:annotation>
<xsd:annotation>
<xsd:documentation>
Copyright 2007 Sun Microsystems, Inc.,

901 San Antonio Road,
Palo Alto, California 94303, U.S.A.
All rights reserved.
Sun Microsystems, Inc. has intellectual property

rights relating to technology described in this document. In
particular, and without limitation, these intellectual
property rights may include one or more of the U.S. patents
listed at http://www.sun.com/patents and one or more
additional patents or pending patent applications in the
U.S. and other countries.
This document and the technology which it describes are

distributed under licenses restricting their use, copying,
distribution, and decompilation. No part of this document
may be reproduced in any form by any means without prior
written authorization of Sun and its licensors, if any.
Third-party software, including font technology, is

copyrighted and licensed from Sun suppliers.
Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Solaris, Java, Java EE,
JavaServer Pages, Enterprise JavaBeans and the Java Coffee
Cup logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun
Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries.
Federal Acquisitions: Commercial Software - Government Users

Subject to Standard License Terms and Conditions.

</xsd:annotation>
<xsd:annotation>
<xsd:documentation>
<![CDATA[
The XML Schema for a JavaServer Faces UIComponent (Version 2.0).
The elements in this schema may be used in an XHTML page for

a composite component, by pulling in the composite namespace:
xmlns:composite="http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite">
<composite:attribute name="foo" default="bar" />
</composite:/interface>

</html>
The elements in this schema may also be used in a facelet taglibrary

file in the same manner:
<facelet-taglib xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
xmlns:composite="http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite"
http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-facelettaglibary_2_0.xsd"
version="2.0">
<namespace>http://domain.com/test_schema</namespace>
<tag>
<tag-name>testSchema</tag-name>
<component>
<component-type>javax.faces.Input</component-type>
<renderer-type>javax.faces.Text</renderer-type>
<handler-class>com.sun.faces.facelets.tag.jsf.ComponentHandler</handler-class>
<component-extension>
<composite:attribute name="foo" default="bar" />
</component-extension>
</component>
</tag>
</facelet-taglib>

The instance documents may indicate the published
version of the schema using xsi:schemaLocation attribute
for javaee namespace with the following location:
http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-facesuicomponent_2_0.xsd
]]>
</xsd:annotation>
<xsd:include schemaLocation="javaee_5.xsd"/>

<xsd:element name = "attribute" type="javaee:uicomponent-attributeType">

</xsd:element>

<xsd:complexType name="uicomponent-attributeType">
<xsd:annotation>
<xsd:documentation>
The "attribute" element declares an attribute of this

ui component.
</xsd:annotation>
<xsd:choice minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">

<xsd:element name="attribute"
type="javaee:uicomponent-attributeType"/>
</xsd:choice>
<xsd:attribute name="name"
type="xsd:string"
use="required"/>
<xsd:attribute name="displayName"
type="xsd:string"
use="optional"/>
<xsd:attribute name="shortDescription"

type="xsd:string"
use="optional"/>
<xsd:attribute name="default"
type="xsd:string"
use="optional"/>
<xsd:attribute name="method-signature"
type="xsd:string"
use="optional">
<xsd:annotation>
<xsd:documentation>
<![CDATA[
Provides the signature of the Java method. The syntax of

the method-signature element is as follows (taken from
function-signature in web-jsptaglibrary_2_1.xsd):
MethodSignature ::= ReturnType S MethodName S?

'(' S? Parameters? S? ')'
ReturnType ::= Type
MethodName ::= Identifier
Parameters ::= Parameter

| ( Parameter S? ',' S? Parameters )
Parameter ::= Type
Where:
* Type is a basic type or a fully qualified

Java class name (including package name),
as per the 'Type' production in the Java
Language Specification, Second Edition,
Chapter 18.
* Identifier is a Java identifier, as per

the 'Identifier' production in the Java
Language Specification, Second
Edition, Chapter 18.
Example:

java.lang.String nickName( java.lang.String, int )
]]>
</xsd:annotation>
</xsd:attribute>
<xsd:attribute name="applyTo"
type="xsd:string"
use="optional"/>
<xsd:attribute name="required"
type="xsd:boolean"
use="optional"/>
<xsd:attribute name="preferred"
type="xsd:boolean"
use="optional"/>
<xsd:attribute name="expert"
type="xsd:boolean"
use="optional"/>
</xsd:complexType>

</xsd:schema>

B
Appendix B - Change Log

Big Ticket Features

? HTML5 Friendly Markup
http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-1090
Start with Section 10.1.4 “HTML5 Friendly Markup”
? Resource Library Contracts
Start with Section 10.1.3 “Resource Library Contracts Background”.
? Faces Flows
Start with Section 7.5 “FlowHandler”.
? Stateless Views
Start with Section 7.8.1.1 “Stateless Views”.
Larger Changes
? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-479-UIDataCollection
UIData supports the Collection Interface rather than List.
Chapter B Appendix B - Change Log B-11

? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-1134
- Add the "role" pass through attribute.
Smaller Changes
? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-1080-FindComponentWarning
Warn about some important corner cases when UIComponent.findComponent() may not provide the expected
results.
? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-1068-PartialResponseProcessing
New section describing what happens with respect to partial processing during render response. See Section 2.2.6.1
“Render Response Partial Processing”.
? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-1067-cc:insertChildren
Spec clarifications. See the VDLDoc for cc:insertChildren, cc:insertFacet
Clarify that both Application.publishEvent() and the manual traversal based delivery are required for
publishing the PostRestoreStateEvent.
Clarify docs for h:message h:messages
- Modify JavaDoc to relax requirements for PostAddToViewEvent publishing
Modify spec for ResponseWriter.writeURIAttribute() to explicitly require adherence to the W3C URI spec
javax.faces.component.ComponentSystemEvent: Override isAppropriateListener so that it first asks the listener, "are
you a ComponentSystemEventListener", then, if not, asks super.isAppropriateListener()
Component Context Manager, see javax.faces.component.visit.ComponentModificationManager.
See javax.faces.view.ViewDeclarationLanguageWrapper
Deprecate the CURRENT_COMPONENT and CURRENT_COMPOSITE_COMPONENT attributes
Make it possible to programmatically create components in the same way as they are created by Facelets. See
javax.faces.application.Application.createComponent(FacesContext, String
taglibUri, String tagName, Map attrs)
Make "value" optional for @FacesComponent.
outputText and inputText do not render children by default
OutputStylesheet "media" attribute
javax.faces.application.Application event subscription clarifications.
B-12 JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

Lifecycle
Larger Changes
? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-949-ClientWindow
http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-947-ClientWindow
Give JSF the ability to correctly handle browsing context (tab, browser window, pop-up, etc). See
javax.faces.lifecycle.ClientWindow.
? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-758-f:viewAction and
A jsf-api/src/main/java/javax/faces/component/UIViewAction.java
The heart of this changebundle, this class came over from the JBoss Seam Faces Module, but I've rewritten most
of the javadoc.
M jsf-api/src/main/java/javax/faces/event/PhaseId.java
? new methods
? public String getName()
? public static PhaseId phaseIdValueOf(String phase)
Change Section 7.4.2 “Default NavigationHandler Algorithm” to account for UIViewAction
? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-1062 and
File Upload
Events from the flash
Add support for delay value in options for Ajax requests
Smaller Changes
In validate(), clarify that setSubmittedValue() null must be called if validation succeeds.
Add FlashFactory. See Section 11.4.7 “Delegating Implementation Support”.
When calculating the locale for the resource library prefix, if there is a UIViewRoot, use its locale first, otherwise,
just use the Applications’s ViewHandler’s calculateLocale() method. See Section 2.6.1.4 “Libraries of Localized and
Versioned Resources”
In ApplicationWrapper, mark things as deprecated
Deprecate StateManager, point to StateManagementStrategy. In StateManagementStrategy, require the use of the visit
API to perform the saving.
Wrapper for ActionListener
? Tweak circumstances for skipping intervening lifecycle phases in the case of view metadata
? Section 2.2.1. Now has this text.
Otherwise, call getViewMetadata() on the ViewDeclarationLanguage instance. If the result is non-null, call
createMetadataView() on the ViewMetadata instance. Call ViewMetadata.getViewParameters(). If the result is a
non-empty Collection, do not call facesContext.renderResponse(). If the result is an empty collection, try to

obtain the metadata facet of the UIViewRoot by asking the UIViewRoot for the facet named
UIViewRoot.METADATA_FACET_NAME. This facet must exist. If the facet has no children, call
facesContext.renderResponse(). Otherwise, none of the previous steps have yielded the discovery any of
metadata, so call facesContext.renderResponse().
UIOutput.getValue() value returns.
In web-partialresponse_2_2.xsd, require that the <partial-response> element has an “id” attribute whose value is the
return from UIViewRoot.getContainerClientId().
Change Section 5.4 “Managed Bean Annotations” to account for new injectability requirements.
In Javadoc for “Faces Managed Bean Annotation Specification For Containers Conforming to Servlet 2.5 and
Beyond”, indicate that javax.faces.bean will be deprecated in the next version.
Introduce CDI based @ViewScoped annotation.
Facelets/VDL
Larger Changes
Allow cc and non-cc components in one taglib
A jsf-api/doc/web-facelettaglibrary_2_2.xsd
First change to the facelet taglib schema in 2.2: introduce the ability to declare a resource which will be the composite
component for a tag. Now, before you get all excited about what conventions we can use to make this easier, let me
stop you right there. Here is a summary of the ease of use story regarding taglib files.
? The 80/20 rule says we should make taglib files optional most of the time. Here are the 80% cases.
? Employs the cc naming convention http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite/<libraryName>
? The user employs a java component has a @FacesComponent on it that declares the necessary metadata.
JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-594
Here are some of the cases where you must have a taglib file, the 20% cases.
? If you want to employ a cc with a namespace other than http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite/<libraryName> you
need to have a taglib file that declares <composite-library-name>. Currently you must not detlare any <tag>
elements in such a taglib file. All the tags in such a library must come from the same resource library.
? If the user is not employs a java component but is not using @FacesComponent.
This patch introduces the following syntax.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
version="2.2">
<namespace>test</namespace>

<tag>
<tag-name>layout</tag-name>
<resource-id>myCC/whatever.xhtml</resource-id>
</tag>
</facelet-taglib>
Where <resource-id> is a valid resource identifier as specified in section 2.6.1.3.
Require additional check to handle the case where, in one resource library, there are both localized and non-localized
resources. See Section 2.6.1.4 “Libraries of Localized and Versioned Resources”.
Smaller Changes
Declare an annotation corresponding to the javax.faces.FACELETS_RESOURCE_RESOLVER application
configuration parameter. See Section 11.5.1 “Requirements for scanning of classes for annotations” and Section 11.1.3
“Application Configuration Parameters”.
Account for DOCTYPE discrepancy between server side representation of Facelet VDL files, which are proper
XHTML, and processed files which are sent to the client, which now, by default, are HTML5 HTML syntax files. See
Section 1.1.1.1 “The facelets-processing element”.
? Fix incorrect VDLDoc http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-967 f:selectItems itemValue
description incorrect.
Remove maxlength from f:viewParam
Document that ui:fragment should not be bound to a bean with wider than request scope, document that the type of
the property must extend from UIComponent.
Changes to "template" attribute requiredness for ui:decorate and ui:composition
Deprecate “targets” concept.
add short-name to schema.
Missing method-signature element in taglib xsd.
Spec Clarifications
In ExternalContext.dispatch(), clarify what is to be done if getRequestDispatcher() returns null.
Replace literal strings with symbolic constants where possible.
State Saving Serializability concerns.
javax.faces.view.facelets.Facelet.apply() spec version reference error.
HTML5 id attribute sensitivity

In Section 1.1.1.1 “The facelets-processing element”, clarify that in XML and JSPX modes, only the CDATA section
start and end tags, not the entire CDATA section and contents, should be consumed.
javax.faces.component.UIViewParameter.getSubmittedValue() return value.
ui:repeat tag size attribute
In Section 3.1.4 “ValueExpression properties”, clarify which attributes are expression enabled,
Change section Section 6.3 “FacesMessage”to clarify the meaning of having FacesMessage instances on the
FacesContext.
f:ajax event attribute is String (not VE)
? 12.1.3
The specification for the context-param that declares the list of TagDecorator implementations to the runtime
should have always been javax.faces.FACELETS_DECORATORS. Prior to this revision, the name of this
context param was incorrectly specified as javax.faces.DECORATORS. The reference implementation has
always used the correct name, however.
Check existing usages of the state saving method parameter to ensure case insensitivity.
M usingFacesInWebapps.fm
? - 12.1.3 Set default for javax.faces.FACELETS_BUFFER_SIZE to be 1024.
Additional clarification about binding attribute in VDLdocs
http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-1015 Non-normative text about http methods and
prefix mapping
? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES-2740
In Section 3.1.5 “Component Bindings”, clarify a corner case regarding bean scope and component binding.
Resources
Larger Changes
This commit introduces a cleaner contract for allowing views to be loaded from the Filesystem (including inside of
JAR files). All VDL resources must be loaded using ResourceHandler.createViewResource().
Smaller Changes
Enable configuring the web app resources directory. See Section 11.1.3 “Application Configuration Parameters”.
Method to map a viewId to a resourcePath

? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-1130-SerializeServerState
Modify Section 7.8.2 “State Saving Alternatives and Implications” to clarify there is no requirement to serialize
server state by default when state saving method is server. Introduce a context parameter to this effect in
Section 11.1.3 “Application Configuration Parameters”
Expression Language
Remove text from MethodExpressionValueChangeListener and MethodExpressionActionListener regarding wrapping
any exception thrown by the invoked method being wrapped in an AbortProcessingException. Such a requirement is
incorrect and should not have been introduced.
In section Section 6.2 “ExceptionHandler”, add AbortProcessingException, to the list of exceptions that do
not get to the ExceptionHandler.
When publishing a ComponentSystemEvent, ensure the EL current component is pushed correctly
If running in a container that supports EL 3.0, add the necessary ELResolvers. See Section 5.6.2.8 “Stream,
StaticField, Map, List, Array, and Bean ELResolvers”.

? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-533-ProgrammaticFacesConfig
Modify Section 11.4.2 “Application Startup Behavior” to account for requirement to call new API when starting up.
Miscellaneous
New XML Namespace for XSD files introduced in JSF 2.2, and also for facelet tag libraries.
The following XSD files are new for JSF 2.2, and each will be in the XML namespace
http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee.
web-facelettaglibrary_2_2.xsd
web-facesconfig_2_2.xsd
web-partialresponse_2_2.xsd
Facelet Tag Libraries will now respond to the following URIs
Library Old URI New URI
Composite http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/composite

Components
Faces Core http://java.sun.com/jsf/core http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/core
HTML_BASIC http://java.sun.com/jsf/html http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/html
JSTL Core http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsp/jstl/core

JSTL http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/funct http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsp/jstl/func

Functions ions tions
Facelets http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/facelets

Templating
Pass http://java.sun.com/jsf/passthroug http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/passthrou

Through h gh
Attributes
Pass http://java.sun.com/jsf http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf

Through
Elements
Developers are requested to use the values from the New URI column, though both columns will work.
M jsf-api/src/main/java/javax/faces/event/ComponentSystemEvent.java
? Override isAppropriateListener so that it first asks the listener, "are you a ComponentSystemEventListener", then,
if not, asks super.isAppropriateListener()
M jsf-api/src/main/java/javax/faces/event/SystemEvent.java
? in isAppropriateListener(), document the default implementation.
M jsf-api/src/main/java/javax/faces/component/UIComponent.java
? Make inner class ComponentSystemEventListenerAdapter implement ComponentSystemEventListener.
? javax.faces.application.ResourceWrapper:
? - getContentType()
? - getLibraryName()
? - getResourceName()
? - setContentType(String)
? - setLibraryName(String)
? - setResourceName(String)
? javax.faces.context.ExternalContextWrapper:
? - getSessionMaxInactiveInterval()
? - isSecure()
? - setSessionMaxInactiveInterval()
? javax.faces.context.PartialViewContextWrapper
? - setPartialRequest(boolean)
? 12.1.3 add this text to the javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD spec. When examining the value, the runtime must
ignore the case.
? Add ExternalContext.getApplicationContextPath() http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-
1012
restore ViewScope before templates are processed with buildView()
? 7.6.2.6 typo in spec for renderView(). Should be
Return immediately if calling isRendered() on the argument UIViewRoot returns false.

? Per Matt Benson, remove duplicate descriptions of the cc and component implicit object from the getValue()
specification for the composite component ELResolver in section 5.6.2.1.
Specify Cross Site Request Forgery protection.
Add text in Section 2.2.1 “Restore View” to describe how non-postback requests are inspected for protection, if
necessary.
Remove text for writeState() in Section 8.4 “ResponseStateManager”, point to the JavaDocs.
Add View Protection methods to Section 7.6.1 “Overview” for ViewHandler.
Introduce subsections to Section 7.6.2 “Default ViewHandler Implementation” that group the methods by their
purpose. Add a new section Section 7.6.2.4 “ViewHandler Methods that relate to View Protection”, which points to
the javadocs. In Section 7.6.2.3 “ViewHandler Methods Relating to Navigation”, in the spec for getActionUrl(),
specify how view protection is affected.
? Remove tables in section Section 11.5.1 “Requirements for scanning of classes for annotations”
The Javadoc tool lists annotations in a separate section, making the tables that list JSF related annotations redundant.
.
? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-1082-DoctypeElement
Add new section Section 10.3.1.1 “DOCTYPE and XML Declaration”.
? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-1141-SlashInResourceNames
In Section 2.6.1.3 “Resource Identifiers”, declare that resourceName and resourceVersion, in addition to the already
listed other segments, are subject to the same constraints.
? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-1129-ResetValues
In Section 2.2.6.1 “Render Response Partial Processing”, require calling UIViewRoot.resetValues() if
necessary.

Faces 2.2 is backwards compatible with Faces 2.1 and 2.0. This means that a web-application that was developed to run
with Faces 2.1 or 2.0 won’t require any modification when run with Faces 2.2 except in the cases described in the
following section.

Due to an error in previous versions of the specification, exceptions were silently being swallowed that now will
bubble up to the exception handler. Code that was relying on this incorrect behavior may need to be modified to
account for fixing this problem.
5.6.2.2 Table 5-11. Make the following changes to the spec for Composite Component Attribute ELResoler
? Modify getType() according to new specification language.
? Require the implementation of containsKey() on the Map.
containsKey(): If the attributes map contains the key, return true. Otherwise, if a default value has been declared
for the attribute, return true. Otherwise, return false.
Section 3.6.2.1 “Composite Component Metadata”
New text dealing with <cc:attribute>

Any additional attributes on <composite:attribute/ > are exposed as attributes accessible from the
getValue() and attributeNames() methods on PropertyDescriptor. The return type from getValue()
must be a ValueExpression with the exception of the getValue(“type”). The return type from
getValue(“type”) must be Class. If the value specified for the type attribute of <cc:attribute/>
cannot be converted to an actual Class, a TagAttributeException must be thrown, including the Tag and
TagAttribute instances in the constructor.
Yes, this is a backwards incompatible change, but because the usecase is so specific, and the performance benefit so
substantial, it was judged to be worth the cost.

Big Ticket Features

? HTML5 Friendly Markup
Start with Section 10.1.4 “HTML5 Friendly Markup”
? Resource Library Contracts
Start with Section 10.1.3 “Resource Library Contracts Background”.
? Faces Flows
Start with Section 7.5 “FlowHandler”.
? Stateless Views
Start with Section 7.8.1.1 “Stateless Views”.
Larger Changes
? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-479-UIDataCollection
UIData supports the Collection Interface rather than List.
- Add the "role" pass through attribute.

Smaller Changes
? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-1080-FindComponentWarning
Warn about some important corner cases when UIComponent.findComponent() may not provide the expected
results.
? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-1068-PartialResponseProcessing
New section describing what happens with respect to partial processing during render response. See Section 2.2.6.1
“Render Response Partial Processing”.
? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-1067-cc:insertChildren
Spec clarifications. See the VDLDoc for cc:insertChildren, cc:insertFacet
Clarify that both Application.publishEvent() and the manual traversal based delivery are required for
publishing the PostRestoreStateEvent.
Clarify docs for h:message h:messages
- Modify JavaDoc to relax requirements for PostAddToViewEvent publishing
Modify spec for ResponseWriter.writeURIAttribute() to explicitly require adherence to the W3C URI spec
javax.faces.component.ComponentSystemEvent: Override isAppropriateListener so that it first asks the listener, "are
you a ComponentSystemEventListener", then, if not, asks super.isAppropriateListener()
Component Context Manager, see javax.faces.component.visit.ComponentModificationManager.
See javax.faces.view.ViewDeclarationLanguageWrapper
Deprecate the CURRENT_COMPONENT and CURRENT_COMPOSITE_COMPONENT attributes
Make it possible to programmatically create components in the same way as they are created by Facelets. See
javax.faces.application.Application.createComponent(FacesContext, String
taglibUri, String tagName, Map attrs)
Make "value" optional for @FacesComponent.
outputText and inputText do not render children by default
OutputStylesheet "media" attribute
javax.faces.application.Application event subscription clarifications.
Lifecycle
Larger Changes
? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-949-ClientWindow
http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-947-ClientWindow
Give JSF the ability to correctly handle browsing context (tab, browser window, pop-up, etc). See
javax.faces.lifecycle.ClientWindow.

? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-758-f:viewAction and
A jsf-api/src/main/java/javax/faces/component/UIViewAction.java
The heart of this changebundle, this class came over from the JBoss Seam Faces Module, but I've rewritten most
of the javadoc.
M jsf-api/src/main/java/javax/faces/event/PhaseId.java
? new methods
? public String getName()
? public static PhaseId phaseIdValueOf(String phase)
Change Section 7.4.2 “Default NavigationHandler Algorithm” to account for UIViewAction
? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-1062 and
File Upload
Events from the flash
Add support for delay value in options for Ajax requests
Smaller Changes
In validate(), clarify that setSubmittedValue() null must be called if validation succeeds.
Add FlashFactory. See Section 11.4.7 “Delegating Implementation Support”.
When calculating the locale for the resource library prefix, if there is a UIViewRoot, use its locale first, otherwise,
just use the Applications’s ViewHandler’s calculateLocale() method. See Section 2.6.1.4 “Libraries of Localized and
Versioned Resources”
In ApplicationWrapper, mark things as deprecated
Deprecate StateManager, point to StateManagementStrategy. In StateManagementStrategy, require the use of the visit
API to perform the saving.
Wrapper for ActionListener
? Tweak circumstances for skipping intervening lifecycle phases in the case of view metadata
? Section 2.2.1. Now has this text.
Otherwise, call getViewMetadata() on the ViewDeclarationLanguage instance. If the result is non-null, call
createMetadataView() on the ViewMetadata instance. Call ViewMetadata.getViewParameters(). If the result is a
non-empty Collection, do not call facesContext.renderResponse(). If the result is an empty collection, try to
obtain the metadata facet of the UIViewRoot by asking the UIViewRoot for the facet named
UIViewRoot.METADATA_FACET_NAME. This facet must exist. If the facet has no children, call
facesContext.renderResponse(). Otherwise, none of the previous steps have yielded the discovery any of
metadata, so call facesContext.renderResponse().
UIOutput.getValue() value returns.

In web-partialresponse_2_2.xsd, require that the <partial-response> element has an “id” attribute whose value is the
return from UIViewRoot.getContainerClientId().
Change Section 5.4 “Managed Bean Annotations” to account for new injectability requirements.
In Javadoc for “Faces Managed Bean Annotation Specification For Containers Conforming to Servlet 2.5 and
Beyond”, indicate that javax.faces.bean will be deprecated in the next version.
Introduce CDI based @ViewScoped annotation.
Facelets/VDL
Larger Changes
Allow cc and non-cc components in one taglib
A jsf-api/doc/web-facelettaglibrary_2_2.xsd
First change to the facelet taglib schema in 2.2: introduce the ability to declare a resource which will be the composite
component for a tag. Now, before you get all excited about what conventions we can use to make this easier, let me
stop you right there. Here is a summary of the ease of use story regarding taglib files.
? The 80/20 rule says we should make taglib files optional most of the time. Here are the 80% cases.
? Employs the cc naming convention http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite/<libraryName>
? The user employs a java component has a @FacesComponent on it that declares the necessary metadata.
JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-594
Here are some of the cases where you must have a taglib file, the 20% cases.
? If you want to employ a cc with a namespace other than http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite/<libraryName> you
need to have a taglib file that declares <composite-library-name>. Currently you must not detlare any <tag>
elements in such a taglib file. All the tags in such a library must come from the same resource library.
? If the user is not employs a java component but is not using @FacesComponent.
This patch introduces the following syntax.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
version="2.2">
<namespace>test</namespace>
<tag>
<tag-name>layout</tag-name>
<resource-id>myCC/whatever.xhtml</resource-id>
</tag>
</facelet-taglib>
Where <resource-id> is a valid resource identifier as specified in section 2.6.1.3.

Require additional check to handle the case where, in one resource library, there are both localized and non-localized
resources. See Section 2.6.1.4 “Libraries of Localized and Versioned Resources”.
Smaller Changes
Declare an annotation corresponding to the javax.faces.FACELETS_RESOURCE_RESOLVER application
configuration parameter. See Section 11.5.1 “Requirements for scanning of classes for annotations” and Section 11.1.3
“Application Configuration Parameters”.
Account for DOCTYPE discrepancy between server side representation of Facelet VDL files, which are proper
XHTML, and processed files which are sent to the client, which now, by default, are HTML5 HTML syntax files. See
Section 1.1.1.1 “The facelets-processing element”.
? Fix incorrect VDLDoc http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-967 f:selectItems itemValue
description incorrect.
Remove maxlength from f:viewParam
Document that ui:fragment should not be bound to a bean with wider than request scope, document that the type of
the property must extend from UIComponent.
Changes to "template" attribute requiredness for ui:decorate and ui:composition
Deprecate “targets” concept.
add short-name to schema.
Missing method-signature element in taglib xsd.
Spec Clarifications
In ExternalContext.dispatch(), clarify what is to be done if getRequestDispatcher() returns null.
Replace literal strings with symbolic constants where possible.
State Saving Serializability concerns.
javax.faces.view.facelets.Facelet.apply() spec version reference error.
HTML5 id attribute sensitivity
In Section 1.1.1.1 “The facelets-processing element”, clarify that in XML and JSPX modes, only the CDATA section
start and end tags, not the entire CDATA section and contents, should be consumed.
javax.faces.component.UIViewParameter.getSubmittedValue() return value.
ui:repeat tag size attribute

In Section 3.1.4 “ValueExpression properties”, clarify which attributes are expression enabled,
Change section Section 6.3 “FacesMessage”to clarify the meaning of having FacesMessage instances on the
FacesContext.
f:ajax event attribute is String (not VE)
? 12.1.3
The specification for the context-param that declares the list of TagDecorator implementations to the runtime
should have always been javax.faces.FACELETS_DECORATORS. Prior to this revision, the name of this
context param was incorrectly specified as javax.faces.DECORATORS. The reference implementation has
always used the correct name, however.
Check existing usages of the state saving method parameter to ensure case insensitivity.
M usingFacesInWebapps.fm
? - 12.1.3 Set default for javax.faces.FACELETS_BUFFER_SIZE to be 1024.
Additional clarification about binding attribute in VDLdocs
http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-1015 Non-normative text about http methods and
prefix mapping
? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES-2740
In Section 3.1.5 “Component Bindings”, clarify a corner case regarding bean scope and component binding.
Resources
Larger Changes
This commit introduces a cleaner contract for allowing views to be loaded from the Filesystem (including inside of
JAR files). All VDL resources must be loaded using ResourceHandler.createViewResource().
Smaller Changes
Enable configuring the web app resources directory. See Section 11.1.3 “Application Configuration Parameters”.
Method to map a viewId to a resourcePath
? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-1130-SerializeServerState
Modify Section 7.8.2 “State Saving Alternatives and Implications” to clarify there is no requirement to serialize
server state by default when state saving method is server. Introduce a context parameter to this effect in

Expression Language
Remove text from MethodExpressionValueChangeListener and MethodExpressionActionListener regarding wrapping
any exception thrown by the invoked method being wrapped in an AbortProcessingException. Such a requirement is
incorrect and should not have been introduced.
In section Section 6.2 “ExceptionHandler”, add AbortProcessingException, to the list of exceptions that do
not get to the ExceptionHandler.
When publishing a ComponentSystemEvent, ensure the EL current component is pushed correctly
If running in a container that supports EL 3.0, add the necessary ELResolvers. See Section 5.6.2.8 “Stream,
StaticField, Map, List, Array, and Bean ELResolvers”.

? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-533-ProgrammaticFacesConfig
Modify Section 11.4.2 “Application Startup Behavior” to account for requirement to call new API when starting up.
Miscellaneous
New XML Namespace for XSD files introduced in JSF 2.2, and also for facelet tag libraries.
The following XSD files are new for JSF 2.2, and each will be in the XML namespace
http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee.
web-facelettaglibrary_2_2.xsd
web-facesconfig_2_2.xsd
web-partialresponse_2_2.xsd
Facelet Tag Libraries will now respond to the following URIs
Composite http://java.sun.com/jsf/composite http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/composite

Components
Faces Core http://java.sun.com/jsf/core http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/core
HTML_BASIC http://java.sun.com/jsf/html http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/html
JSTL Core http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsp/jstl/core
JSTL http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/funct http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsp/jstl/func

Functions ions tions

Facelets http://java.sun.com/jsf/facelets http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/facelets

Templating
Pass http://java.sun.com/jsf/passthroug http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf/passthrou

Through h gh
Attributes
Pass http://java.sun.com/jsf http://xmlns.jcp.org/jsf

Through
Elements
Developers are requested to use the values from the New URI column, though both columns will work.
M jsf-api/src/main/java/javax/faces/event/ComponentSystemEvent.java
? Override isAppropriateListener so that it first asks the listener, "are you a ComponentSystemEventListener", then,
if not, asks super.isAppropriateListener()
M jsf-api/src/main/java/javax/faces/event/SystemEvent.java
? in isAppropriateListener(), document the default implementation.
M jsf-api/src/main/java/javax/faces/component/UIComponent.java
? Make inner class ComponentSystemEventListenerAdapter implement ComponentSystemEventListener.
? javax.faces.application.ResourceWrapper:
? - getContentType()
? - getLibraryName()
? - getResourceName()
? - setContentType(String)
? - setLibraryName(String)
? - setResourceName(String)
? javax.faces.context.ExternalContextWrapper:
? - getSessionMaxInactiveInterval()
? - isSecure()
? - setSessionMaxInactiveInterval()
? javax.faces.context.PartialViewContextWrapper
? - setPartialRequest(boolean)
? 12.1.3 add this text to the javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD spec. When examining the value, the runtime must
ignore the case.
? Add ExternalContext.getApplicationContextPath() http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-
1012
restore ViewScope before templates are processed with buildView()
? 7.6.2.6 typo in spec for renderView(). Should be
Return immediately if calling isRendered() on the argument UIViewRoot returns false.
? Per Matt Benson, remove duplicate descriptions of the cc and component implicit object from the getValue()
specification for the composite component ELResolver in section 5.6.2.1.
Specify Cross Site Request Forgery protection.

Add text in Section 2.2.1 “Restore View” to describe how non-postback requests are inspected for protection, if
necessary.
Remove text for writeState() in Section 8.4 “ResponseStateManager”, point to the JavaDocs.
Add View Protection methods to Section 7.6.1 “Overview” for ViewHandler.
Introduce subsections to Section 7.6.2 “Default ViewHandler Implementation” that group the methods by their
purpose. Add a new section Section 7.6.2.4 “ViewHandler Methods that relate to View Protection”, which points to
the javadocs. In Section 7.6.2.3 “ViewHandler Methods Relating to Navigation”, in the spec for getActionUrl(),
specify how view protection is affected.
? Remove tables in section Section 11.5.1 “Requirements for scanning of classes for annotations”
The Javadoc tool lists annotations in a separate section, making the tables that list JSF related annotations redundant.
.
? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-1082-DoctypeElement
Add new section Section 10.3.1.1 “DOCTYPE and XML Declaration”.
? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-1141-SlashInResourceNames
In Section 2.6.1.3 “Resource Identifiers”, declare that resourceName and resourceVersion, in addition to the already
listed other segments, are subject to the same constraints.
? http://java.net/jira/browse/JAVASERVERFACES_SPEC_PUBLIC-1129-ResetValues
In Section 2.2.6.1 “Render Response Partial Processing”, require calling UIViewRoot.resetValues() if
necessary.

Faces 2.2 is backwards compatible with Faces 2.1 and 2.0. This means that a web-application that was developed to run
with Faces 2.1 or 2.0 won’t require any modification when run with Faces 2.2 except in the cases described in the
following section.

Due to an error in previous versions of the specification, exceptions were silently being swallowed that now will
bubble up to the exception handler. Code that was relying on this incorrect behavior may need to be modified to
account for fixing this problem.
5.6.2.2 Table 5-11. Make the following changes to the spec for Composite Component Attribute ELResoler
? Modify getType() according to new specification language.
? Require the implementation of containsKey() on the Map.
containsKey(): If the attributes map contains the key, return true. Otherwise, if a default value has been declared
for the attribute, return true. Otherwise, return false.
New text dealing with <cc:attribute>
Any additional attributes on <composite:attribute/ > are exposed as attributes accessible from the
getValue() and attributeNames() methods on PropertyDescriptor. The return type from getValue()
must be a ValueExpression with the exception of the getValue(“type”). The return type from

getValue(“type”) must be Class. If the value specified for the type attribute of <cc:attribute/>
cannot be converted to an actual Class, a TagAttributeException must be thrown, including the Tag and
TagAttribute instances in the constructor.
Yes, this is a backwards incompatible change, but because the usecase is so specific, and the performance benefit so
substantial, it was judged to be worth the cost.
Changes between 2.0 Rev a and 2.1
Section 10.3.2 “Facelet Tag Library mechanism”

Document that the unprefixed namespace must pass through.
New feature: <facelets-processing>

Section 1.1 “Required Handling of *-extension elements in the application configuration resources files”
Update schema for 2.1

The only new element is <facelet-cache-factory>. See the full schema in the Javadoc section of the documents.
Change Restore View Phase

Change Section 2.2.1 “Restore View” to require a call to ViewHandler.deriveLogicalViewId() before trying to
find the ViewDeclarationLanguage.
Section 7.6.2 “Default ViewHandler Implementation”

Document deriveLogicalViewId().

2.1 Changes between 2.0 Final and 2.0 Rev a
Global changes
ExceptionQueuedEvent
The specification incorrectly refers to the ExceptionQueuedEvent as the ExceptionEvent. All instances should be
replaced, as there is no such class ExceptionEvent in JSF.
Usage of the term "page" in the JSF 2.0 spec

This might be kind of nit-picky, but there are several occurrences of the term "Facelet page" in the JSF 2.0 spec, but I'd
like to set forth the argument that the term "Facelet document" or "Facelet view" would be more appropriate, depending
on context. Similarly, the spec uses the term "Composite component markup page" which isn't always appropriate either.
Better to call it a "Composite component markup document" or something like that.
All Facelet XHTML files are documents, but not all Facelet XHTML files are pages. There is a built-in bias to the word
"page" that assumes the markup output will be rendered as a "web page" which is not always the case. In the case of
portlets, the rendered output is a fragment of markup (normally a <div>...</div>). In the case of a custom renderkit, the
rendered output might be some mobile device. In the case of ICEfaces, the rendered markup is a server-side DOM tree.
In the case of a composite component, a Facelet XHTML file is not a page, but a "Composite Component markup
document" (or definition) file.
For example.. Instead of a "Facelet Page", I think the following should be called a "Facelet Document" or a "Facelet
View" (since the f:view tag is optional, but implied)
<h:head>
<title>A simple example of EZComp</title>
</h:head>
<h:body>
<h:form>
</h:form>
</h:body>
</html>
But in the case of Portlets, the <html> , <head>, and <body> tags are forbidden. The equivalent "Facelet Document" or
"Facelet View" for portlets would look like this:
<f:view xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"
...
</f:view>

Front Matter
Change Sun logo to Oracle Logo. Sun postal address to Oracle postal address, and Sun phone number to Oracle phone
number
Update spec license.
Chapter 2
Section 2.2.1 “Restore View”

Per Andy Schwartz recommendation, loosen the spec requirements for the delivery of the PostRestoreStateEvent to be
"somewhere during RestoreView".
Section 2.5.2.4 “Localized Application Messages”

Suggestion: Change to
Validation Error: Length is less than allowable minimum of 5.
Section 2.5.7 “JSR 303 Bean Validation”

Change "leas" to "least"
Section 2.5.7 “JSR 303 Bean Validation”needs to reference "Bean Validation

Integration" section
While reading section 2.5.7, one becomes very disappointed with the limited about of information that it provides. But
section 3.5.6 provides more information, so the recommendation is that these sections reference eachother, or perhaps are
combined in some way if that makes sense.
Section 2.6.1.3 “Resource Identifiers”

Tighten spec for the localePrefix, libraryName, and resourceVersion segments of the resource identifier.
Chapter 3
Clarify meaning of "javax.faces.bean" in Section 3.5.6.1 “Bean Validator Activation”

Section 3.5.6.1 says:
"If Bean Validation is present in the runtime environment, the system must ensure that the javax.faces.Bean standard
validator is added with a call to Application.addDefaultValidatorId()"

But the reader of the Spec has no idea what the "javax.faces.Bean" standard validator is, within the context of this
paragraph. Recommend adding some verbiage that says that javax.faces.Bean is the validatorId of the standard JSR 303
validator of the JSF 2.0 API, which equates to the javax.faces.validator.BeanValidator class as mentioned in Section
10.4.1.4.
Need to be consistent between Section 3.4.3.4 “Declarative Listener Registration”of the

JSF 2.0 Spec and the VDLDoc for f:event
Section 3.4.3.4 of the JSF 2.0 Spec reads:
The method signature for the MethodExpression pointed to by the listener attribute must match the signature of
javax.faces.event.ComponentSystemEventListener.processEvent().
And the VDLDocs for f:event read:
(signature must match public void listener(javax.faces.event.ComponentSystemEvent event) throws

javax.faces.event.AbortProcessingException)
Both of these are true, and indeed saying the same thing. But I think it would be helpful to say BOTH things, in BOTH
documents.
Typo in Section 3.4.3.4 “Declarative Listener Registration” of the JSF 2.0 Spec
regarding "beforeRender"
Section 3.4.3.4 of the JSF 2.0 Spec has this example:
<h:inputText value="#{myBean.text}">
<f:event type="beforeRender" listener="#{myBean.beforeTextRender}" />
</h:inputText>
But "beforeRender" is a typo. The correct value is "preRenderComponent" as stated in the f:event VDLDocs.
Section 3.5.3 “Validation Registration”, Section 3.6.1.1 “What does it mean to be a JSF
User Interface component?”
Remove references to UInput.encodeEnd(). Not for a very long time has this method been used to instigate validation.

Section 3.6.2.1 of the Spec indicates that the "hidden" property of the javax.bean.FeatureDescriptor is to appear as an
attribute for tags like composite:actionSource, composite:attribute, composite:facet, and composite:interface but the
VDLDocs do not declare that the "hidden" property is available.
Chapter 4
Section 4.1.19.4 “Events”

Remove text pertaining to PostRestoreStateEvent, rely instead on text in setion 2.2.1.

Chapter 7
Section 7.4.1 “Overview”

getNavigationCase should return NavigationCase and not void.
Section 7.4.2 “Default NavigationHandler Algorithm”

Add faces-include-view-params

Fix typo the specified createView() should be called in renderView() and restoreView().
Chapter 9
Section 9.4.1 “<f:actionListener>” of Spec PDF -- Missing "for" attribute of

f:actionListener in Spec PDF
The example for f:selectItems includes a noSelectionValue attribute, but that attribute isn't documented. VDLDocs for
f:selectItems does not document the noSelectionValue attribute.
Actually, it does document it, but it only looks like it doesn't. It seems as though the itemLabelEscaped attribute is
documented twice, but really the second occurance is the noSelectionValue.
Section 9.4.1 “<f:actionListener>” and Section 9.4.19 “<f:valueChangeListener>”

Add this non-normative text.
Note that if the binding attribute is used, the scope of the ValueExpression must be chosen carefully so as not to
introduce undesireable results. In general, when using the binding attribute, do not point to beans in request or narrower
scope.
Chapter 10
Need to change "confirm with" to "conform with".
Confusing verbiage in table 10-1 of JSF 2.0 spec regarding the word "template"
In table 10-1, it correctly says that "page templating" is not a feature of JSP.
But later on in the table, it says "Expressions in template text cause unexpected behavior when used in JSP."
Somehow there needs to be an explanation of the distinction of "page templating" and "template text" here. Right now it
kind of reads as a contradiction.

Section 10.3.1 “General Requirements”
Add an assertion to section 10.3.1 stating that EL expressions that appear in the facelet XHTML page must appear in the
rendered view as if they were the right hand side of the value attribute of an at the same point in the page as the EL
expression
Section 10.3.2 “Facelet Tag Library mechanism”

Section 10.3.2. Correct xref to point to section in appendix that includes the facelet taglib schema.
Correct xref to point to section in appendix that includes the facelet taglib schema.
VDLDocs and PDL documentation

Section 10.4.3 “Facelet Templating Tag Library”, Section 10.4.3 “Facelet Templating Tag Library”, and Section 10.4.5
“JSTL Core and Function Tag Libraries” refer the reader to the "VDLDocs" for Facelet, CC, and JSTL tag libraries
respectively.
However, when one checks out the Mojarra 2.0.0 Beta 2 page, it talks about the "PDL" tag library documentation. Also,
when one clicks on the "PDL Documentation for Facelets2", it uses the term "PDL" in several places.
So it looks like the View Declaration Language (VDL) terminology hasn't made its way into the tag library docs yet.
Possible error in section Section 10.4.1.1 “<f:ajax>” of the JSF 2.0 Spec regarding
f:ajax and h:panelGrid
Section 10.4.1.1, shows this example:
<f:ajax>
<h:panelGrid>
<h:inputText id=˝text1˝/>
<h:commandButton id=˝button1˝/>
</h:panelGrid>
</f:ajax>
And then has the following about the example:

<h:panelGrid> has no default event so in this case a behavior would not be applied.
BUT the very next example is this:

<f:ajax event=˝click˝>
<h:panelGrid id=˝grid1˝>
<h:inputText id=˝text1˝/>
<h:commandButton id=˝button1˝>
<f:ajax event=˝mouseover˝/>
</h:commandButton>
</h:panelGrid>
</f:ajax>
And then has the following comment:
From this example, grid1˝ and text1˝ would have ajax behavior applied for an onclick˝ event
So... which is it? Does h:panelGrid get ajax behavior or not? Can an HTML table have an "onclick" JavaScript event?

Redundant mentioning of Facelets in Section 10.4.1.4 “<f:validateBean>” of the JSF 2.0
Spec
Since the parent section (10.4.1) indicates that sub-sections are Facelets-only in nature, then it is not necessary to have
(Facelets only) in the "Constraints" paragraph of Section 10.4.1.4 of the spec.
Availability of f:validateBean and f:validateRequired in JSP

Section 10.4 “Standard Facelet Tag Libraries” outlines the f: namespaced tags that are only applicable to Facelets (and
not JSP). In that section, f:validateBean, and f:validateRequired are listed. However, they are both listed as working with
JSP as well (kind of like f:validateRegex), as can be seen from the JSP TLDDocs.
According to Dan Allen: "those tags only work partially in JSP. Yes, they work as single field validators. But the branch
validator capability does not work (wrapping the validator tag around a branch). The later feature is Facelets only. So the
validators do have their feet in both ponds, but only Facelets has full support. I suppose we could mention this tidbit in
the JSP section."
Dan is correct that it should be mentoned in the JSP section, but also, that f:validateBean and f:validateRequired belong
in both Section 10.4 and 9.4, with the limits of their functionality described in each section.
Chapter 13
Redundancy in Section 13.4.2 “Partial View Processing” of the JSF 2.0 Spec
Section 13.4.2 of the JSF 2.0 spec has this sentence:
The request contains special parameters that indicate the request is a partial execute request or a partial execute request
that was triggered using Ajax
This needs clarification -- does this mean to say:
partial execute request (not triggered by Ajax) or a partial execute request (that was triggered using Ajax)
"Execute portions" of the JSF request processing lifecycle in the JSF 2.0 Spec
Section 13.4.2 reads:
Although the diagram in Section 13.4 Partial View Traversal˝ depicts the execute˝ portion as encompassing everything
except the Render Response Phase˝, it really is the Apply Request Values Phase˝, Update Model Values Phase˝ and
Process Validations Phase˝.
Why does the diagram include the INVOKE_APPLICATION phase if it's not "really" considered to be part of the
execute portions?
Chapter 14
Section 14.2 “Initiating an Ajax Request” Typo in table 14.2.2 of the JSF 2.0 Spec
Table 14.2.2 reads:
"execute" phase

But in order to be consistent with the rest of the spec, it should read:
"execute" portion
Also, the same goes for "render" in that the word "portion" should be used instead of "phase".
Section 14.4.1 “Request/Response Event Handling”Table 14.4.1

Change responseTxt to responseText.
Table 14.3: Reorder rows
Appendix A Metadata
Update schema to remove partial-traversal, as well as fixing 768.
Section 1.2.1 “Deprecated DTD for Facelet Taglibraries Used by Versions of Facelets
Prior to JSF 2.0”
To ease migration for Facelet taglibraries declared using pre-JSF 2.0 versions of Facelets, implementations must support
loading facelet taglibrary files that conform to the pre-JSF 2.0 Facelets DTD. Per DTD conventions, Facelet taglibrary
files declare conformance to this DTD by including text similar to the following in at the top of their declaring file.
<!DOCTYPE facelet-taglib PUBLIC
"-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD Facelet Taglib 1.0//EN"
"http://java.sun.com/dtd/facelet-taglib_1_0.dtd">
Use of this DTD is officially deprecated. This DTD is included for reference in Section 1.2.1 "Deprecated DTD for
Facelet Taglibraries Used by Versions of Facelets Prior to JSF 2.0". It is expected that proper JSF 2.0 Facelet Taglibraries
will declare conformance to the following schema, rather than the deprecated DTD.
VDLDoc changes
Typo in f:selectItems VDLDocs

Change "mest" to "must"
Need clarification on execute attribute of f:ajax

The VDLDocs for f:ajax say "Identifiers of components" but, for some reason, it wasn't obvious to me that this term
referred to the "id" attributes of components. The recommendation isthat this be clarified to say "list of <b>id</b>
attribute values" instead. Also, the value of an id attribute like "mycomponent" or something should be added to an
example that includes a keyword... something like this: "@this componentone componenttwo"
Spelling error in VDLDocs for f:ajax

This one from Lincoln:
See the "onerror" attribute

There is an extra 'e' -> "oneerror"
Need clarification on required attribute in VDLDocs for tags that got a new "for"
attribute in JSF 2.0
The VDLDocs correctly have green for the new "for" attribute, but the "required" column says false, when that's not
always the case.
For example, with f:actionListener the VDLDocs say that that it is not required. However, when the tag is used as a child
of a Composite Component, then the for attribute is indeed required. This would be true of all tags like that, such as
f:convertDateTime, f:convertNumber, etc.
Uppercase typo in VDLDocs for f:event

Change uppercase "P" to lowercase for: PostAddToView for the f:event VDLDocs
Need to change "JSP" to "Facelets" in "Body Content" of VDLDocs

Search for "JSP" on the f:event VDLDocs [1]. My suspicion is that this is a problem across the board.
Need clarification in VDLDocs for f:metadata

In the VDLDocs for f:metadata, recommend changing:
"This tag must reside within the top level XHTML file for the given viewId, not in a template"
to this:
"This tag must reside within the top level Facelet view, or in a template-client, but not in a template"
Also, it needs to be clarified that the page01.xhtml example is a template-client. So recommend changing this:
"viewId XHTML page, page01.xhtml"
to this:
"template-client XHTML page, page01.xhtml"
Missing description in VDLDocs for name attribute of f:viewParam

The VDLDocs for f:viewParam are missing documentation of the "name" attribute, which is pretty important since it is
required.
VLDDocs on "for" attribute of f:viewParam claim it can be used in a CC

The VDLDocs for f:viewParam claim that the "for" attribute is supported. I just checked Mojarra's jsf-api and
UIViewParameter.java does not support the "for" attribute, since it does not have a getter/setter for "for" like
HtmlOutputLabel does. There are restrictions on f:viewParam such that it may only be used inside of f:metadata, and
f:metadata may only be used inside of f:view. So that disqualifies the f:viewParam tag from being able to be used inside
of a Composite Component. Therefore I recommend that the documentation of the "for" attribute be totally removed.

Miscellaneous VDLDoc items
? VDLDocs for "execute" attribute of f:ajax say (must evaluate to java.lang.Object) but then say "Evaluates to
Collection"
? VDLDocs f:selectItem lists the new JSF 2.0 "noSelectionOption" but is not colored green to indicate "new in JSF
2.0" and the link for f:selectItem in the navigation frame needs to be orange
? VDLDocs for f:validateBean should have all of its attributes in green to indicate "new in JSF 2.0" since it is a new
tag.
? VDLDocs for f:validateRegex has a typo in the description which reads "RegexpValidator" rather than
"RegexValidator"
? In spec, the "Changes between 1.2 and EDR2" section refers the reader to section 3.5.2 for the addition of
"javax.faces.RegularExpressionValidator" but actually it should be section 3.5.5
? VDLDocs for h:button say that the outcome attribute is not required, but really it should be required otherwise there
is no purpose of f:button -- you would end up navigating back to the current view. The whole point of f:button is to
perform navigation to a different view that potentially contains view parameters. Why have a bookmarkable URL
back to itself?
? VDLDocs for h:button don't mention a disabled attribute, but the h:link one does have the disabled attribute. My
guess would be that both should have this attribute?
? VDLDocs for h:outputScript and h:outputStylesheet should indicate that even though the UIOutput class implements
the ValueHolder interface, the coverter and value attributes are basically ignored by the renderers, since the value
attribute has no meaning. This is basically a design flaw -- a new class named UIOutputResource should have been
created instead of UIOutput being reused.
? VDLDocs for h:outputScript and h:outputStylesheet should indicate that the "name" attribute is required, since section
2.6.1.3 implies that this is the case with the following resource pattern:
[localePrefix/][libraryName/][libraryVersion/]resourceName[/resourceVersion]
? VDLDocs for h:outputScript needs to have all the possible values for the target attribute documented. I think the only
valid values are "head", "body", and "form"
? VDLDocs for h:graphicImage has a dead hyperlink to "Common Algorithm for Obtaining A Resource to Render
? VDLDocs for h:selectManyCheckbox indicate orange for the collectionType and hideNoSelectionOption attributes
but they should be green to indicate "new in JSF 2.0"
? VDLDocs for h:selectManyCheckbox says that the return type must evaluate to a String, but that's not entirely true. It
can also evaluate to a concrete class that implements java.util.Collection
? VDLDocs for ui:param have two "name" attributes specified. The second one should be the "value" attribute
Should TLDDocs now be VDLDocs?

The Spec introduces this term VDLDocs (which as I said in the other email, was formerly PDLDocs), but it also refers
the reader to the TLDDocs. Should we just settle on VDLDocs as the standard term throughout the Spec?
Typo in VDLDocs for f:event.

The VDLDocs for f:event specify a "name" attribute, but the Description column of the page talks about a "type" column
(not "name"), which would be consistent with Section 3.4.3.4 of the Spec which talks about a "type" column.
Jim Driscoll verified that there is a doc bug in the VDLDocs for f:event and that the "name" attribute is actually "type"
Accepted Changes from JCP Change Log for JSF 2.0 Rev a
The referenced spec public issue number can be found in the issue tracker at
https://javaserverfaces-spec-public.dev.java.net/servlets/ProjectIssues

Fixed in
Source Code
ID Category Description Issue
Repository of
Specification
Section 5.6.2.2 is out of sync with the current resolver Spec
C002 Errata yes
implementation. Public:848
RenderKitDoc for OutcomeTarget Renderers are incorrect
Spec
C004 Errata with respect to intended design. Refer to ChangeC006 in the yes
Public:823
footnotes section below.
Section JSF.11.4.7 Ordering. After the sentence "The <others
/> element must be handled as follows" add a bullet point:
"The <others /> element represents a set of application
configuration resources. This set is described as the set of all
application configuration resources discovered in the Spec
C007 Errata yes
application minus the one currently being processed, minus Public:824
the application configuration resources mentioned by name in
the <ordering /> section. If this set is the empty set, at the time
the application configuration resources are being processed,
the <others > element must be ignored."
taglib docs for composite:interface are missing Spec
C008 Errata yes
documentation for componentType attribute. Public:849
Section JSF.3.6.2.1 Composite Component Metadata
Spec
C011 Errata Specification. Add BehaviorHolderAttachedObjectTarget yes
Public:825
after iii. ActionSource2AttachedObjectTarget
Javadocs for ResourceHandler.createResource(String
resourceId) need to me ammended to state that if there is an Spec
C012 Errata yes
error in argument resourceId, null must be returned by this Public:851
method.
PDL DOCS: f:event listener attribute clarification:Change
description to: "A method expression that JSF invokes when Spec
C013 Errata yes
an event occurs. That event is specified with the name Public:586
attribute."
UIViewRoot.setBeforePhaseListeners() removed the
statement that all phases including RestoreView will have Spec
C015 Errata yes
their beforePhaseListeners called. Reverted to the way it Public:826
was in 1.2
Section 2.6.2.1 Relocatable Resources: code snippet: Spec
C016 Errata yes
<f:view..../> should be <f:view...> Public:565
Spec
C017 Errata UISelectItem doesn't mention itemEscaped. yes
Public:430
ViewDeclarationLanguage.retargetAttachedObjects() Spec
C018 Errata yes
misses talking about Behaviors Public:827
ui:insert missing existing "name" attribute, implemented, Spec
C021 Errata yes
tested, but not documented Public:667
f:valueChangeListener missing "for" attribute. Spec
C022 Errata yes
Implemented, tested, but not documented Public:828
in facelets VDLdoc, mark f:verbatim and f:subview as Spec
C023 Change no
deprecated Public:852
Add an assertion to section 10.3.1 stating that EL expressions
that appear in the facelet XHTML page must appear in the
Spec
C024 Errata rendered view as if they were the right hand side of the value yes
Public:829
attribute of an <h:outputText> at the same point in the page
as the EL expression
web-facelettaglibrary_2_0.xsd type incorrect for composite- Spec
C027 Errata no
library-name. Should be ***javae:string*** Public:854
Spec
C028 Errata ui:remove VDLDoc has attribute with no name no
Public:842
ui:param has attribute duplicated. One of them should be Spec
C029 Errata yes
"value" Public:855
RenderKit Docs javax.faces.CompositeFacet change "
Spec
C030 Errata The implementation of encodeBegin(), must obtain " to be " no
Public:843
The implementation of encodeChildren(), must obtain "
VDL docs state that composite:attribute has a target
Spec
C031 Errata attribute with required=true. This attribute is not really yes
Public:644
required on composite:attribute.
Mention in spec that Objects put in view scope may need to Spec
C032 Errata yes
be Serializable Public:830
Modify the javadoc for ResourceHandler to state that for
resources residing at META-
Spec
C033 Errata INF/resources/<resourceidentifier>. The yes
Public:844
implementation is not required to support the optional
libraryVersion and resourceVersion segments
Modify table 5-10 to state that implicit object cc returns the
Spec
C034 Change current composite component, relative to the composite yes
Public:831
component markup page in which the expression appears
3.6.2.1 Modify composite component metadata specification
to state that, within the cc:interface element, the following
Spec
C035 Errata attributes are not available unless ProjectStage is yes
Public:832
Development: displayName, expert, hidden, preferred,
shortDescription
UIComponent.restoreState() javadocs must be changed to
Spec
C037 Errata ***say*** NPE is thrown if context is null, but no action is yes
Public:845
taken if state argument is null

VDLDocs for f:metadata. Don't mention f:view. State,
Spec
C040 Errata "This tag must reside within the top level facelet page whose yes
Public:856
filename corresponds ot the viewid being loaded."
Document SEPARATOR_CHAR in section 11.1.3 where all the Spec
C043 Errata yes
other context-params are documented Public:833
Section 11.4.6 doesn't include ViewDeclarationLanguage,
VisitContextFactory, ExceptionHandlerFactory, Spec
C044 Errata yes
PartialViewContext, TagHandlerDelegateFactory as Public:834
decoratable
Section 10.4.1.1 specifies the use of AjaxBehaviors
Spec
C046 Errata pushBehavior but AjaxBehaviors is an implementation yes
Public:836
detail (the class exists under com package)
Add "defaults" for "execute", "render" AjaxBehavior in Spec
C047 Errata</TD yes
vdldocs. Public:568
JSP should not have f:viewParam. Facelets f:viewParam Spec
C048 Errata yes
must have name attribute. Public:656
Spec
C049 Errata Spec section 3.2.5 is empty. Fix that yes
Public:835
Spec
C050 Errata Spec for UIComponent.setParent() incomplete yes
Public:837
Spec
C054 Errata f:event name attribute should be type. yes
Public:639
Section 14.4.1: Table 14-4: responseTxt should be
responseText. Table 14-4: Add status property; Table 14-4:
Spec
C058 Errata There is no "name" property. Table 14-3: reorder "status" yes
Public:642
values to be in chronological order. Section 14.4.1.1: Fix use
case.
Replace the last sentence in the javadoc for
FacesServlet.service() to say "The implementation must
Spec
C060 Change make it so FacesContext.release() is called within a yes
Public:846
finally block as late as possible in the processing for the JSF
related portion of this request".
Non-normatively document that JavaBeans PropertyEditors
Spec
C061 Change will be used for EL Coercion. Mention this in the context of yes
Public:838
JSF converters
Spec
C062 Change In 3.1.5, explicitly mention not to use view scope yes
Public:839
7.4.1 Clarify that, in the case of navigation actions, an empty
Spec
C063 Change string should be treated the same way as null: stay on the yes
Public:747
same page.
Correct StateHolder.setTransient JavaDoc (specified Spec
C064 Change yes
backwards) Public:840

Correct typos in Composite.tld (for pdldocs). Specifically,
quotes around actionListener, method-signature Spec
C065 Change yes
(spelling). Also clarify the default value "false" for "required" Public:841
attribute.
Specify that the Component Resource container facet must be
marked transient. Specifically, the JavaDocs for Spec
C066 Change yes
UIViewRoot.getComponentResources should include: "Set Public:800
the transient property of the facet to true."
Modify the facelet taglib xsd so that older versions of taglibs Spec
C068 Change yes
are acceptable. Public:744
Make sure vdldocs for f:event list event all possible event Spec
C069 Change yes
types Public:712
Neither applyNextHandler of DelegatingMetaTagHandler or Spec
C072 Errata yes
nextHandler of TagHandler are documented. Public:780
Specify f:ajax execute/render id behavior in vdldocs (as Spec
C073 Errata yes
outlined in Section 10.4.1.1 of the spec). Public:567
<view-param> has no business being a child of <redirect> Spec
C074 Errata yes
and should be renamed to <redirect-param>. Public:698
includeViewParams implicit navigation flag should be faces- Spec
C075 Errata yes
include-view-params. Public:699
Event broadcasting should apply to Behaviors (not just Spec
C077 Errata yes
ClientBehaviors). Public:798
PostAddToViewEvent delivery specification needs
Spec
C078 Errata clarification. Clarify UIComponent.getParent and getChildren yes
Public:805
for consistency.
RenderKit Docs - TableRenderer:Clarification - the docs say
Spec
C079 Errata to render the footer the same as the header which causes the yes
Public:255
problem.
RenderKit Docs - ButtonRenderer Encode behavior w/r/t Spec
C080 Errata yes
onclick attribute - should not be passthrough attribute. Public:257
h:message "for" attribute is mis-specified:"for" attribute Spec
C081 Errata yes
should be relative id (not clientid). Public:266
clarify whether expression of binding-attribute of Spec
C082 Errata yes
f:xxxxListener should be evaluated on postback. Public:320
Option rendering, specifically when dealing with Spec
C083 Errata yes
SelectItemGroups, is too generic. Public:420
Spec
C084 Errata submittedValue get/set methods underspecified yes
Public:434
Current wording in renderkit docs leads to double encoding of Spec
C085 Errata yes
query parameters Public:436
Spec
C086 Errata SelectManyCheckBox Clarification yes
Public:466
PDL document for JSTL(Facelets) has the incorrect URI for Spec
C087 Errata yes
the NameSpace. Public:509

Spec
C088 Errata API docs missing for ExceptionEventContext. yes
Public:515
composite:attribute component documentation for the Spec
C089 Errata yes
attribute type should be for attribute method-signature. Public:524
Spec
C090 Errata The UML Diagram for javax.faces.event is out of date. yes
Public:525
Spec
C091 Errata Minor typo in the Interface BehaviorHolder API. yes
Public:534
Spec
C092 Errata Two references to the itemLabelEscaped attribute. yes
Public:536
Missing class description for
Spec
C093 Errata javax.faces.event.PostValidateEvent and yes
Public:537
javax.faces.event.PreValidateEvent.
Section 3.7.5 typo - ClientBehavorHolder should be Spec
C094 Errata yes
ClientBehaviorHolder. Public:540
Section 4.1.3 typo - NamingContaier should be Spec
C095 Errata yes
NamingContainer. Public:541
API Docs: Application.publishEvent: Docs say to throw NPE
Spec
C096 Errata if any of the arguments is null. However, sourceBaseType arg yes
Public:553
can be null.
Facelets TLD Docs: Missing "for" attribute for "message" and Spec
C097 Errata yes
"messages" tags. Public:558
ResourceHandler docs: Clarify that relative paths are Spec
C099 Errata yes
disallowed in library names. Public:577
Spec
C100 Errata Renderkit Docs: h:link - Formatting - add paragraphs yes
Public:588
Spec Section 2.5.9: Fix Grammar: "The first client behavior to
provided by the JSF specification is the AjaxBehavior." Spec
C101 Errata yes
should be: "The first client behavior provided by the JSF Public:590
specification is the AjaxBehavior."
Spec Section 9.4 doesn't list all the validation tags and it lists Spec
C102 Errata no
the validateDoubleRange tag twice. Public:591
Vdldocs and Spec section 3.6.2.1 have
Spec
C103 Errata component:actionSource target attribute with commas as yes
Public:592
delimiters - should be "space" as delimiter.
Spec Section 7.4.1: getNavigationCase should return Spec
C104 Errata yes
NavigationCase and not void. Public:605
Spec Section 10.4.1.4 says: f:validateBean should extend Spec
C105 Errata yes
validateHandler. Should be ValidatorHandler. Public:615
Typo: Pages in the TLD docs says "JSF 2.0 Page Decraration Spec
C106 Errata yes
Language". Should be "Declaration". Public:617
Spec
C107 Errata Typos: Table 14-1, 14-2, page 14-3. yes
Public:629

UIData.invokeOnComponent docs need to be updated to Spec
C108 Errata yes
include handling of column level facets. Public:632
Spec Section 3.5.6.1 needs to be corrected to state that default Spec
C109 Errata yes
validators are added during tag execution time. Public:635
validateBean and validateRequired tags need to be removed Spec
C110 Errata yes
from the JSP PDL documentation Public:645
jsf.ajax.response update element clarification needed in Spec
C111 Errata yes
JavaScript docs. Public:646
Spec Section 10.4.1.1: Clarify what happens when nesting Spec
C112 Errata yes
and wrapping f:ajax tags collide. Public:652
Typo: Spec Section 8.3.1: "renderkit-id" should be "render- Spec
C113 Errata yes
kit-id" and "renderkit" should be "render-kit". Public:660
Add "rendered" attribute to VDL docs for ui:component and Spec
C114 Errata yes
ui:fragment. Public:661
JavaDocs for UIComponent.processValidators is incomplete. Spec
C115 Errata yes
It should mention popComponentFromEL. Public:664
Spec
C116 Errata Dead link in VDL docs. yes
Public:666
Spec Section 2.5.2.4: Standard messages for LengthValidator Spec
C117 Errata yes
are confusing. Public:668
Spec/pdldocs don't say what the default is for "target" in Spec
C118 Errata yes
h:outputScript. Public:673
partial-view-context-factory is only mentioned in the schema Spec
C119 Errata yes
part of the spec. Houls be added to Spec Section 13.4.2. Public:705
Spec
C120 Errata Specification edits needed - see: here no
Public:714
Typo - Spec Section 7.5.2: "ViewHanlder" should be
"ViewHandler"; "renderView" and "restoreView" methods Spec
C121 Errata yes
should call "ViewDeclarationLanguage.renderView" and Public:729
"ViewDeclarationLanguage.restoreView".
Spec Section 2.6.1.3: Specify that a libraryName or
resourceName contains only XML NameChar, but not a
Spec
C122 Errata colon; a libraryName or resourceName does not match the yes
Public:740
regex "[0-9]+(_[0-9]+)* or [A-Za-z]{2}(_[A-Za-z]{2}(_[A-
Za-z]+)*)?"
Spec
C123 Errata Typos in PDLDocs for ui:repeat yes
Public:743
Remove "partial-traversal" application element from the spec Spec
C124 Errata yes
as it does not exist in the schema. Public:767

Add mssing ID attributes to schema for: faces-config-
orderingType,faces-config-ordering-orderingType,faces-
config-absoluteOrderingType,faces-config-default-
Spec
C125 Errata valueType,faces-config-from-view-idType,faces-config- yes
Public:768
client-behavior-rendererType,faces-config-
behaviorType,faces-config-value-classType,faces-config-
rendererType
UIInput JavaDocs: Specify the handling of conversion Spec
C126 Errata yes
failures. Public:775
EditableValueHodler JavaDocs: Missing "@Since 2.0" for Spec
C127 Errata yes
"resetValue" method. Public:779
VDL documentation for f:selectItem references the "escape" Spec
C128 Errata yes
attribute. It should be "itemEscaped". Public:788
Spec
C129 Errata Specify description for "f:param" "disabled" attribute. yes
Public:794
Spec
C130 Errata Simplify PostRestoreStateEvent delivery requirements. yes
Public:806
2.2 Changes between 1.2 Final and 2.0 Final

This section gives a change-by-change accounting of the modifications to the spec since the draft listed in the title of this
section.
Section 2.1 “Request Processing Lifecycle Scenarios”

Modified to define and explain resource requests and responses.
Section 2.2 “Standard Request Processing Lifecycle Phases”

Specify how and when the currentPhaseId property of the current FacesContext must be updated.

Modified to indicate that the PostAddToViewEvent event must be sent after the view was created. Also specify that
if the VDL is Facelets, the tree must be fully constructed before exiting Restore View.
Change how the “binding” attribute is handled. In the case of a programmatically created view, manually traverse the
tree and send each node the AfterRestoreViewEvent. In the case of a normally restored tree, the “binding”
attribute is handled by UIViewRoot.processRestoreState(), which is already called from
StateManager.restoreView().
Modify the non-faces-request case to include view parameter processing.
Section 2.2.2 “Apply Request Values”

Specified additional behavior to recognize partial requests and to perform partial processing.
Section 2.2.2.1 “Apply Request Values Partial Processing”

Specified behavior for partial processing.
Section 2.2.3 “Process Validations”

Section 2.2.3.1 “Partial Validations Partial Processing”

Section 2.2.4 “Update Model Values”

Section 2.2.4.1 “Update Model Values Partial Processing”

Section 2.2.6 “Render Response”

Generalized to remove JSP specific language.
Added the requirement for (partial requests) to prevent writing to the response at the start of this phase (to prevent
content from being written outside f:view)

Added message key for Bean Validation.
Section 2.5.4 “Resource Handling”

Add non-normative section traversing this feature.
Section 2.5.5 “View Parameters”

Section 2.5.6 “Bookmarkability”

Section 2.5.7 “JSR 303 Bean Validation”

Section 2.5.8 “Ajax”

Section 2.5.9 “Component Behaviors”

New Section 2.6 “Resource Handling”

This section is the starting point for the specification of the Resource Handler facility, which is also specified in the
JavaDocs and the Standard RenderKit Docs.
New Section 2.6.2 “Rendering Resources”

This section briefly talks about how resources (such as images, stylesheets and scripts) use the resource handling
mechanism.

New Section 2.6.2.1 “Relocatable Resources”
This section outlines the mechanism that script and stylesheet resources use to render themselves in a different location
(with respect to tag or component placement in the view).
New Section 2.6.2.2 “Resource Rendering Using Annotations”

This section describes the use of an annotation to mark that a component requires a resource.
Section 3.1.8 “Component Tree Navigation”

Added descriptions for UIComponent.getCurrentComponent and UIComponent.getCurrentCompositeComponent.
Added descriptions for visitTree().
Section 3.1.10 “Managing Component Behavior”

Described additional method implementations of the BehaviorHolder interface.
Section 3.1.11 “Generic Attributes”

Described additional responsibilities for Map get() method if the component instance is a composite component.
Section 3.1.11.1 “Special Attributes”

Describe UIComponent contants that are used in attribute Map(s).
Section 3.1.13 “Component Specialization Methods”

Mentioned the default behavior of UIComponentBasse encodeChildren if no associated renderer. Mentioned
encodeBegin() must publish PreRenderComponentEvent.
Section 3.1.14 “Lifecycle Management Methods”

Added pointers to pushComponentToEL() popComponentFromEL() in support of “component” implicit object.
Section 3.1.15 “Utility Methods”

Added UIComponent utility method getResourceBundleMap().

Section 3.2.6.1 “Properties”
Mentioned ResourceDependency/ResourceDependencies lookup for ValueHolder setConverter method.
Section 3.2.7.2 “Methods”

Mentioned ResourceDependency/ResourceDependencies lookup for EditableValueHolder addValidator method..
Section 3.2.8 “SystemEventListenerHolder”

Added section describing this new behavioral interface.
Section 3.3.2 “Converter”

Added verbage about Resource annotations attached to Converters.

Updated UML diagram of event package
Moved existing event content to be in new subsection: Section 3.4.2 “Application Events”, and created a new subsection
Section 3.4.3 “System Events”
Section 3.4.2.6 “Event Broadcasting”

Clarification made: throwing an AbortProcessingException tells an implementation that no further broadcast of the
current event occurs. Does not affect future events.
Section 3.4.3.1 “Event Classes”

Added descriptions for PostConstructApplicationEvent and PreDestroyApplicationEvent.
Section 3.4.3.4 “Declarative Listener Registration”

New section for declarative events.
Section 3.4.3.5 “Listener Registration By Annotation”

Added verbiage about ListenerFor and ListenersFor annotations.

Section 3.5.2 “Validator Classes”
Added verbage about Resource annotations attached to Validators.

Add “javax.faces.RegularExpressionValidator” standard validator

Added validaor requirements with respect to dealing with null or empty values.
Section 3.5.3 “Validation Registration”

Added default validator registration requirements.
Section 3.5.5 “Standard Validator Implementations”

Added requirements for BeanValidator and RequiredValidator.
Section 3.5.6 “Bean Validation Integration”

Bean Validation integration.
Section 3.7 “Component Behavior Model”

Section describes adding behavior to the component model.
Section 4.1.19.2 “Properties”

Specify the viewMap property on UIViewRoot.

Specify new methods on UIViewRoot for handling resources for the view.
Section 4.1.19.4 “Events”

Added UIViewRoot getPhaseListeners().

Section 4.1.19.5 “Partial Processing”
Specify additional behavior for UIViewRoot methods to faciliate partial processing.

Specify iterator() method for DataModel.
Section 3.6 “Composite User Interface Components”

New section specifying composite components.
Section 5.2.1 “MethodExpression Syntax and Semantics”

Modify content relating to managed-bean-scope to include “view” scope.
Section 5.4.2 “Managed Bean Lifecycle Annotations”

Modify @PostConstruct to state that an exception thrown during the @PostConstruct must cause a log message to be
logged.
Modify content to clarify when @PreDestroy must be called in the case of view scoped managed beans.
Section 5.6.1.1 “Faces Implicit Object ELResolver For JSP” and

Section 5.6.2.1 “Implicit Object ELResolver for Facelets and
Specify how the new implicit object ”resource“ must be handled by the Implicit Object ELResolver.
Specify how viewScope, component, and cc are resolved.
Section 5.6.1.2 “ManagedBean ELResolver”

Modify setValue() to allow for atomic lazy creation. This eliminates the need to do a get() before doing a set().
Section 5.6.2.1 “Implicit Object ELResolver for Facelets and

Add a new implicit object: “resource”. This allows easily encoding resources into markup using EL expressions
Corrected behavior of getType with respect to "requestScope", "sessionScope", or “applicationScope” - should return
null, not Object.class.

Section 5.6.2.5 “Resource ELResolver”
This section specifies the behavior of the Resource EL Resolver
Section 5.6.2.2 “Composite Component Attributes ELResolver”

New ELResolver that ensures that #{cc.attrs} resolves to a special Map.
Section 5.6.2.9 “ScopedAttribute ELResolver”

Specify that setPropertyResolved(true) is called in all cases.
Section 6.1.2 “Attributes”

Add new section after 6.1.1 documenting the new Map returned from FacesContext.getAttributes().
Section 6.1.8 “ResponseStream and ResponseWriter”

Add FacesContext enableResponseWriting method.
Section 6.1.10 “Partial Processing Methods”

Specify the FacesContext contants and methods that facilitate partial request processing.
Section 6.1.11 “Partial View Context”

Specify this class is used to facilitate partial view processing and partial view rendering.
Section 6.1.12 “Access To The Current FacesContext Instance”

Specify how this method must behave during application startup time.Corrected access keyword for
FacesContext.setCurrentInstance() to be protected instead of public.
Section 6.1.13 “CurrentPhaseId”

New property to access the current phase.
Section 6.2 “ExceptionHandler”

New property to access the ExceptionHandler for this request.

Section 6.7 “ExceptionHandlerFactory”
New factory for ExceptionHandler instances.
Section 6.8 “ExternalContextFactory”

New factory for ExternalContext.
Section 7.1.9 “ProjectStage Property”

This section documents the new ProjectStage property. This is similar in use to the RAILS_ENV environment variable
from the Ruby on Rails framework.
Section 7.1.14 “System Event Methods”

New section describing system events.
Section 7.4.2 “Default NavigationHandler Algorithm”

Specify how to handle implicit navigation.
Specify how to handle conditional navigation
Require that context.getFlash().setRedirect(true) is called if the navigation is a redirect.
Specify that an informative message must be rendered in the page if there is no outcome match and ProjectStage is
not Production.
Special handling for view parameters and redirect.

In createView(), if the VDL is Facelets, make sure the view is fully populated before returning.

Move the viewId derivation algorithm to be inside of the new ViewHandler.deriveViewId() method and specify
it to deal with the new DEFAULT_SUFFIX definition.
Modify getActionURL() to remove the use of DEFAULT_SUFFIX and instead take a simpler implementation.
Refactored VDL specific logic into new ViewDeclarationLanguage class.
Section 7.7 “ViewDeclarationLanguage”

New section which coveres how Facelets and JSP are handled via the ViewDeclarationLanguage class.

Section 8.1 “RenderKit”
New methods on RenderKit: getComponentFamilies() and getRendererTypes().
Section 8.2 “Renderer”

Mentioned the ListenerFor annotation.
Section 8.3 “ClientBehaviorRenderer”

Renderer for component Behavior.
Section 9.4.3 “<f:convertDateTime>”

Extends ConverterELTag, not ConverterTag.
Section 9.4.4 “<f:convertNumber>”

Extends ConverterELTag, not ConverterTag
Section 9.4.14 “<f:validateDoubleRange>”

Extends ValidatorELTag, not ValidatorTag
Section 9.4.16 “<f:validateRegex>”

New standard validator
Section 9.4.17 “<f:validateLongRange>”

Extends ValidatorELTag, not ValidatorTag
Section 9.4.21 “<f:view>”

Extends UIComponentELTag, not UIComponentBodyTag
Section “Facelets and its use in Web Applications”

New chapter insterted after Chapter 9, titled, “Integration with Facelets”. This implies increasing the remaining chapter
numbers by one.

Section 10.4.1.1 “<f:ajax>”
Declarative Ajax tag.
Section “Override default Ajax action. “button1” is associated with the

Ajax “execute=’cancel’” action:”
Bean Validation tag.
Section 10.4.1.5 “<f:validateRequired>”

Bean Validation tag.

New javax.faces.PROJECT_STAGE ServletContext init param.
New javax.faces.INTERPRET_EMPTY_STRING_SUBMITTED_VALUES_AS_NULL ServletContext init param.
New javax.faces.DISABLE_FACES_VDL_VIEWHANDLER ServletContext init param.
Modify javax.faces.DEFAULT_SUFFIX init param, add javax.faces.FACELETS_DEFAULT_SUFFIX,

javax.faces.FACELETS_VIEW_MAPPINGS init params.
New javax.faces.VALIDATE_EMPTY_FIELDS ServletContext init param.
New javax.faces.PARTIAL_STATE_SAVING ServletContext init param
New javax.faces.FULL_STATE_SAVING_VIEW_IDS servlet context init param.
Explicitly ignore “/WEB-INF/faces-config.xml” in javax.faces.CONFIG_FILES, if present.
Section 11.4.2 “Application Startup Behavior”

Change rules to support ordering of configuration resources.
Section 11.4.6 “Configuration Impact on JSF Runtime”

Specify requirements for handling resource-handler elements within the application configuration resources.
Specify requirements for handling faces-lifecycle-listener elements within the application configuration
resources.
Declare exception-handler-factory.
Declare discovery-handler-factory.
Declare view-declaration-language-factory.

Section 11.4.7 “Delegating Implementation Support”
List decoratable artifacts.
Section 11.4.8 “Ordering of Artifacts”

Define the rules for ordering of configuratino resources.
Section 11.5 “Annotations that correspond to and may take the place of
entries in the Application Configuration Resources”
New section detailing new annotations.
Section 12.2 “PhaseEvent”

Statement should read: encapsulated by FacesContext...
Chapter 13 “Ajax Integration

New chapter describing how Ajax will integrate with JavaServer Faces.
Section 13.1 “JavaScript Resource”

This section describes the standard Ajax JavaScript resource that will be used in JavaServer Faces.
Section 13.1.1 “JavaScript Resource Loading”

This section describes how the Ajax resource will leverage the resource loading feature.
Section 13.1.1.1 “The Annotation Approach”

This section mentions the use of the resource annotation to specify that a component or renderer requires the Ajax
ressource.
Section 13.1.1.2 “The Resource API Approach”

Component authors can also specify that a custom component or renderer requires the Ajax resource by using the
resource APIs.

Section 13.1.1.3 “The Page D eclaration Language Approach”
Page authors can make the Ajax resource available through the standard resource tags.
Section 13.2 “JavaScript Namespacing”

This section discusses the JavaScript namespacing requirements for the Ajax resource to avoid collisions with other
JavaScript libraries.
Section 13.3 “Ajax Interaction”

This section describes the JavaScript functions that will be available to allow clients to perform Ajax interactions with
JavaServer Faces.
Section 13.3.1 “Sending an Ajax Request”

This section describes the process of sending an Ajax request to the server.
Section 13.3.2 “Ajax Request Queueing”

Higher level requirements about queueing Ajax requests before they are sent.
Section 13.3.3 “Request Callback Function”

Describes the functionality when a response comes back from the server.
Section 13.3.4 “Receiving The Ajax Response”

Describes the requirements of javax.faces.Ajax.ajaxResponse - the function that gets called from the Ajax request
callback function.
Section 13.3.5 “Monitoring Events On The Client”

Describes the JavaScript functions used to register event and error callback functions that will be notified when events
and errors occur.
Section 13.3.5.1 “Monitoring Events For An Ajax Request”

Details about specifying the “onevent” attribute.

Section 13.3.5.2 “Monitoring Events For All Ajax Requests”
Specifics about the jsf.ajax.addOnEvent function.
Section 13.3.5.3 “Sending Events”

Details about sending client side events.
Section 13.3.6 “Handling Errors On the Client”

Specifics about the JavaScript functions to use for handling errors on the client.
Section 13.3.6.1 “Handling Errors For An Ajax Request”

Details about specifying “onerror” attribute.
Section 13.3.6.2 “Handling Errors For All Ajax Requests”

Details about jsf.ajax.addOnError function.
Section 13.3.6.3 “Signaling Errors”

Specifics about signaling client side errors.
Section 13.3.7 “Handling Errors On The Server”

Specifics about exception handling on the server for Ajax requests.
Section 13.4 “Partial View Traversal”

This section provides a summary of how Faces can process one or more components in a view - know as partial
processing.
Section 13.4.1 “Partial Traversal Strategy”

This section provides a summary of how frameworks can plug in strategies for performing partial view processing and
partial view rendering.

Section 13.4.2 “Partial View Processing”
This section describes how one or more components can be processed in the “execute” portion of the request processing
lifecycle.
Section 13.4.3 “Partial View Rendering”

This section describes how one or more components can be processed in the “render” portion of the request processing
lifecycle.
Section 13.4.4 “Sending The Response to The Client”

Describes the server side responsibilities for preparing and sending the response markup back to the client.
Section 13.4.4.1 “Writing The Partial Response”

Describes the PartialResponseWriter requirements.
Chapter 14 “JavaScript API

New Chapter - JavaScript API for JSF 2.0
Section 14.1 “Collecting and Encoding View State”

Describes the JavaScript function that can be used to return encoded state for a given form.
Section 14.1.1 “Use Case”

Simple example of using the jsf.getViewState function.
Section 14.2 “Initiating an Ajax Request”

Describes the JavaScript function used to send Ajax requests.
Section 14.2.1 “Usage”

jsf.ajax.request function syntax and arguments.
Section 14.2.3 “Default Values”

Default values for the “execute” and “render” arguments.

Section 14.2.4 “Request Sending Specifics”
Implementation requirements for the jsf.ajax.reqeust function.

Simple example of the request function.
Section 14.5 “Determining An Application’s Project Stage”

This section summarizes the implementation requirements for the jsf.ajax.response function.
Section 14.4 “Registering Callback Functions”

This section describes the functions that can be used to register callback functions that will be notified when events and
errors occur.
Section 14.4.1 “Request/Response Event Handling”

Describes the specifics of using the JavaScript API to register event handling callback functions.
Section 14.4.1.1 “Use Case”

Simple example of jsf.ajax.addOnEvent function.
Section 14.4.2 “Error Handling”

Describes the specifics of using the JavaScript API to register error handling callback functions.
Section 14.4.2.1 “Use Case”

Simple example of jsf.ajax.addOnError function.
Section 14.5 “Determining An Application’s Project Stage”

Describes the function used to determine an application’s project stage.

Simple example of jsf.getProjectStage function.

Section 14.6 “Script Chaining”
Describes the jsf.util.chain function that can be used to chain function calls.
Javadoc XML Schema section

Add the resource-handler element.
Add the faces-lifecycle-listener element and its children.
Section 1.3 “XML Schema Definition for Composite Components”

New section - the layout for the Ajax response.
Standard HTML RenderKit specification
component-family: javax.faces.Graphic renderer-type: javax.faces.Image

Spec for what to do if “name”, “library” or “target” attributes are present
component-family: javax.faces.Output renderer-type: javax.faces.Body

This is a new Renderer in the standard-html-renderkit
component-family: javax.faces.Output renderer-type: javax.faces.Head

component-family: javax.faces.Output renderer-type: javax.faces.resource.Script

component-family: javax.faces.Output renderer-type: javax.faces.resource.Stylesheet

General Changes
The numbers in the text below refer to issue numbers in the issue tracker found at <https://javaserverfaces-spec-
public.dev.java.net/servlets/ProjectIssues>.
? 100 - New methods on RenderKit: getComponentFamilies() and getRendererTypes().
? 170 - Allow commandButton to have f:param children.

? 175 - Non-normatively clarify that the value of the "src" attribute will have the context-root prepended to it if the
value starts with "/".
? 199 - Spec updates to clarify commandLink.
? 201 - Clean up convertNumber locale attribute to match with convertDateTime locale attribute.
? 226 - Require that SelectOneListBox and all similar renderers set "" if no request parameter can be found for the
component instance.
? 228 - add selectedClass and unselectedClass to selectManyCheckbox
? 232 - Make javax.faces.model.DataModel implement Iterable.
? 259 - For selectOneRadio and selectManyCheckbox, normatively require the "style" and "border" elements to end up
on the respective attributes on the rendered "table".
? 310 - Add context-param for setting the default timezone of DateTimeConverter instances
? 311 - Make the documentation in the spec prose document and the javadocs for the “first” property of UIData be
consistent. In both cases, the value returned is relative to “zero”, not “one”.
? 317 - Make it so you if you try to do setValue on a managedBean that is not yet instantiated, it gets automatically
instantiated first.
? 331 - add getPhaseListeners() to UIViewRoot.
? 361 - Section 3.1.5, fix missed ValueBinding to ValueExpression change.
2.3 Changes Between 1.1 and 1.2
Unified Expression Language (EL)

Previous versions of the JavaServer Faces included an innovative, EL tailored to the needs of Faces. The main emphasis
of this version of the Faces spec, and also the focus of the JSP spec corresponding to it, is to take those innovations and
expose them to JSP page authors by creating a Unified EL that leverages the combined power of the Faces and JSP ELs.
The Faces EL would then be deprecated, and the deprecated implementation would be written in terms of the Unified EL
to preserve backwards compatability.
2.3.0.1 Guide to Deprecated Methods Relating to the Unified EL and their Corresponding
Replacements
The following classes and methods have been deprecated:
? javax.faces.el.EvaluationException
? replaced by: javax.el.ELException
? javax.faces.el.MethodBinding
? replaced by: javax.el.MethodExpression
? javax.faces.el.MethodNotFoundException
? replaced by: javax.el.MethodNotFoundException
? javax.faces.el.PropertyNotFoundException
? replaced by: javax.el.PropertyNotFoundException
? javax.faces.el.PropertyResolver
? replaced by: javax.el.ELResolver
? javax.faces.el.ReferenceSyntaxException

? replaced by: javax.el.ELException
? javax.faces.el.ValueBinding
? replaced by: javax.el.ValueExpression
? javax.faces.el.VariableResolver
? replaced by: javax.el.ELResolver
? javax.faces.application.Application.createComponent(ValueBinding
componentBinding, FacesContext context, String componentType)
? replaced by: javax.faces.application.Application.createComponent(ValueExpression
componentExpression, FacesContext context, String componentType)
? javax.faces.application.Application.createMethodBinding
? replaced by: javax.faces.application.Application.createMethodExpression
? javax.faces.application.Application.createValueBinding
? replaced by calling: javax.faces.application.Application.getExpressionFactory then
ExpressionFactory.createValueExpression
? see Javadoc for javax.faces.application.Application.createValueBinding
? javax.faces.application.Application.getPropertyResolver
? replaced by: javax.faces.application.Application.getELResolver
? javax.faces.application.Application.setPropertyResolver
? see Javadoc for javax.faces.application.Application.setPropertyResolver
? javax.faces.application.Application.getVariableResolver
? replaced by: javax.faces.application.Application.getELResolver
? javax.faces.application.Application.setVariableResolver
? see Javadoc for javax.faces.application.Application.setVariableResolver
? javax.faces.component.ActionSource.getAction
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.ActionSource2.getActionExpression
? javax.faces.component.ActionSource.setAction
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.ActionSource2.setActionExpression
? javax.faces.component.ActionSource.getActionListener
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.ActionSource.getActionListeners
? see Javadoc for javax.faces.component.ActionSource.getActionListener
? javax.faces.component.ActionSource.setActionListener
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.ActionSource.addActionListener
? javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.getValidator
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.getValidators
? see Javadoc for: javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.getValidator
? javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.setValidator
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.addValidator
? see Javadoc for: javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.setValidator
? javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.getValueChangeListener
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.getValueChangeListeners
? see Javadoc for: javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.getValueChangeListener
? javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.setValueChangeListener
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.addValueChangeListener
? see Javadoc for: javax.faces.component.EditableValueHolder.setValueChangeListener

? javax.faces.component.UICommand.getAction
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.UICommand.getActionExpression
? javax.faces.component.UICommand.setAction
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.UICommand.setActionExpression
? javax.faces.component.UICommand.getActionListener
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.UICommand.getActionListeners
? see Javadoc for: javax.faces.component.UICommand.getActionListener
? javax.faces.component.UICommand.setActionListener
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.UICommand.addActionListener
? see Javadoc for: javax.faces.component.UICommand.setActionListener
? javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.getValueBinding
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.getValueExpression
? javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.setValueBinding
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.setValueExpression
? javax.faces.component.UIComponent.getValueBinding
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.UIComponent.getValueExpression
? javax.faces.component.UIComponent.setValueBinding
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.UIComponent.setValueExpression
? javax.faces.component.UIData.setValueBinding
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.UIData.setValueExpression
? javax.faces.component.UIGraphic.getValueBinding
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.UIGraphic.getValueExpression
? javax.faces.component.UIGraphic.setValueBinding
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.UIGraphic.setValueExpression
? javax.faces.component.UIInput.getValidator
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.UIInput.getValidators
? see Javadoc for: javax.faces.component.UIInput.getValidator
? javax.faces.component.UIInput.setValidator
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.UIInput.addValidator
? see Javadoc for: javax.faces.component.UIInput.setValidator
? javax.faces.component.UIInput.setValueChangeListener
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.UIInput.addValueChangeListener
? see Javadoc for: javax.faces.component.UIInput.setValueChangeListener
? javax.faces.component.UISelectBoolean.getValueBinding
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.UISelectBoolean.getValueExpression
? javax.faces.component.UISelectBoolean.setValueBinding
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.UISelectBoolean.setValueExpression
? javax.faces.component.UISelectMany.getValueBinding
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.UISelectMany.getValueExpression
? javax.faces.component.UISelectMany.setValueBinding
? replaced by: javax.faces.component.UISelectMany.setValueExpression
New Methods not replacing a Deprecated methods:

? javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.getBeforePhaseListener

? javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.setBeforePhaseListener
? javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.getAfterPhaseListener
? javax.faces.component.UIViewRoot.setAfterPhaseListener
Guide to Deprecated Methods Relating to State Management and their Corresponding

Replacements
The following classes and methods have been deprecated:
? javax.faces.application.StateManager.SerializedView
? replaced by java.lang.Object that implements java.io.Serializable
? javax.faces.application.StateManager.saveSerializedView
? replaced by javax.faces.application.StateManager.saveView
? javax.faces.application.StateManager.getTreeStructureToSave
? The separation between tree structure and component state is now a recommended implementation detail.
? javax.faces.application.StateManager.getComponentStateToSave
? javax.faces.application.StateManager.writeState that takes a SerializedView
? replaced by javax.faces.application.StateManager.writeState that takes a
java.lang.Object that implements Serializable.
? javax.faces.application.StateManager.restoreTreeStructure
? javax.faces.application.StateManager.restoreComponentState
? javax.faces.render.ResponseStateManager.writeState that takes a
javax.faces.application.StateManager.SerializedView
? Replaced by javax.faces.render.ResponseStateManager.writeState that takes a
java.lang.Object that implements java.io.Serializable.
? javax.faces.render.ResponseStateManager.getTreeStructureToRestore
Semantically has been replaced by javax.faces.render.ResponseStateManager.getState.
? javax.faces.render.ResponseStateManager.getComponentStateToRestore
Semantically has been replaced by javax.faces.render.ResponseStateManager.getState.
JavaServer Faces 1.2 Backwards Compatibility

? Faces 1.2 is backwards compatible with Faces 1.1. This means that a web-application that was developed to run with
Faces 1.1 won’t require any modification when run with Faces 1.2 except in the cases described in the following
section.
? Note that Faces is a part of the Java EE platform as of Faces 1.2. A web application therefore does not need to bundle
a Faces implementation anymore when it runs on a web container that is Java EE technology compliant. Should a
Faces implementation be bundled with a web-application, it will simply be ignored as the Faces implementation
provided by the platform always takes precedence.
? The JSP aspects of backwards compatability are described in the JSP specification in the Preface, in the section titled
“Backwards Compatability with JSP 2.0”.

Breakages in Backwards Compatability
? In Faces 1.1 you could override implicit objects in your custom resolvers. For example, for the following expression:
${param[‘x’]} you could change the meaning of param in your custom VariableResolver. In Faces 1.2,
implicit objects are always recognized - so param will always mean a map of parameters. See Section 5.3 “The
Managed Bean Facility”
? In Faces 1.1, any custom resolvers that do not honor the “decorator” pattern - that is, delegate to their parent resolver,
will still work in Faces 1.2 with the following clarification: those resolvers would operate independently with regards
to other resolvers in the chain. See Section 5.6.1 “Faces ELResolver for JSP Pages”.
? In Faces 1.1 it was valid to call setVariableResolver() or setPropertyResolver() on the
Application at any point in the application’s lifetime. This allowed for the application to be in an indeterminate
state. In Faces 1.2, neither of these methods may be called after the application has served any requests.
? In Faces 1.1, if a view couldn’t be restored due to session expiration, we’d create a new one and go to render
response. In 1.2, this is not the case. We now throw a ViewExpiredException. 1.1-based applications may rely
on the old behavior to forward to a login page when a session expired. 1.2 circumvents this.
General changes
The numbers in the text below refer to issue numbers in the issue tracker found at <https://javaserverfaces-spec-
public.dev.java.net/servlets/ProjectIssues>.
? 2 - Clarify that for client side state saving, the state should be encrypted for security.
? 3 - Clarify the specification with respect to constraint violations for tags in the Core Tag Library.
? 4 - Added headerClass and footerClass attributes at the “h:column” level. Please see Section 8.6 “Standard
HTML RenderKit Implementation” for more details.
? 5 - Clarified the use of a string literal for the “action” attribute on ActionSource components.
? 6 - Introduced a new optional “label” attribute for input components that will provide an association between a
component, and the message that the component (indirectly) produced. Please refer to Section 8.6 “Standard HTML
RenderKit Implementation” and Section 2.5.2.4 “Localized Application Messages” for more details.
? 8 - Made UViewRoot a source of PhaseEvent(s) for all phases of the request processing lifecycle except RestoreView.
Provided additional “before” and “after” phase listener attributes for the <f:view> tag. Please see Section 4.1.19
“UIViewRoot” for more details.
? 9 - Clarified the behavior of PhaseListener implementations in the following way: they must guarantee that if
“beforePhase()” is called, then “afterPhase()” must also be called, regardless of any thrown exceptions. Please see
Section 12.3 “PhaseListener” for more specifics.
? 11 - Provide a unique window identifier (in addition to the “viewid”) to accomodate applications that have mutiple
instances of the same view, but perhaps in different browser windows or frames.
? 13 - Specified “by type” converter registration for BigDecimal and BigInteger.
? 15 - Enhanced the usage of the “Decorator Pattern” for ViewHandler, StateManager and ResponseWriter classes by
providing abstract wrapper classes to make it easier to override a subset of the total methods for those classes. Please
see Section 11.4.7 “Delegating Implementation Support” for more details.
? 16 - Provided additional I18n attributes “dir and “lang” for the tags: <h:outputText>, <h:outputFormat>,
<h:messages>, <h:message>. Please see Section 8.6 “Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation” for descriptions of
these components.
? 17 - Introduced a new optional “layout” attribute on the “PanelGroup” component that controls the rendering of either
a “div” or “span” HTML element. Please see Section 8.6 “Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation” for more
details.
? 18 - When a resource lookup is done on the java.util.Map (loaded from <f:loadBundle>) using a key, and the key is
not found in the Map, return the literal string ???KEY??? where KEY is the key being looked up in the Map (instead
of throwing a MissingResourceException). Throw a JspException if the named bundle identified by <f:loadBundle>
does not exist. Please see Section 9.4.7 “<f:loadBundle>”.

? 20 - Specify that the event queue should be cleared after each phase (except RestoreViewPhase and RenderResponse)
if “responseComplete” or “renderResponse” has been set on the FacesContext.
? 21 - Provided an additional “binding” attribute for the core Converter, Listener and Validator tags that would be used
as a ValueExpression to alternatively create the Converter, Listener or Validator instance. Please see Section 9.4 “JSF
Core Tag Library” for more details.
? 27 - <h:messages> now renders HTML list elements (“<ul>”,”<li>”) if the “layout” attribute is “list” or the “layout”
attribute is not specified. If the “layout” is “table”, an HTML “table” element is rendered instead of an outer “span”.
Please see Section 8.6 “Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation” for more details.
? 29 - Allow the use of user-defined “onclick” Javascript on CommandLink.
? 30 - Make the “commandButton” “image” attribute render the same as the “graphicImage” “img” attribute for
consistency. Please see Section 8.6 “Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation” for more information.
? 35 - Provided a new facet for DataTable Renderer that allows the rendering of a table “caption” element immediately
following the “table” element. Also provided style sheet attributes for this new element. Please see Section 8.6
“Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation” for a descrption of this component.
? 43 - Migrated over to using XML Schema (from DTD) for configuation file validation. Please see the schema section
of the Javadocs.
? 45 - Avoided concurrent read issues by using a java.util.HashMap instead of java.util.WeakHashMap for a
component’s Property Descriptor Map. This also fixes the performance problem as identified in the forum. Please
refer to the Property Descriptor methods and the constructor in
javax.faces.component.UIComponentBase.
? 47 - Introduced a mechanism to detect if a request is a postback.
? 48 - Specify the algorithm used for client id generation as well as provide a way to allow the page author to specify
exactly what the client Id should be, and preventing Faces from altering it.
? 50 - Allow an application to specify multiple render kits by introducing an optional “renderKitId” attribute on
“<f:view>”. It is no longer required to write a custom ViewHandler to incorporate a different render kit. Please refer
to Section 8.4 “ResponseStateManager” and Section 9.4.21 “<f:view>” for more details.
? 51 - Clarify the specification with respect to “Application Startup Behavior”. Allow implementations to check for the
presence of a servlet-class definition in a web application deployment descriptor as a means to abort the configuration
and save startup time.
? 54 - Added new extension elements to the Faces XML schema. Please see the XML schema section of the Javadocs.
? 55 - For postback requests, in the “RestoreViewPhase”, during ValueExpression examination for each
component in the component tree, specify that calling the setValue() method on each ValueExpression,
should be done in a “parent-first” fashion, calling the setValue() method and then traversing the children.
? 58 - Enabed “protected” access to internal “DataModel” in UIData.
? 59 - Avoid EL expression evaluation for “value” attribute on “AttributeTag”. “AttributeTag” now passes the
expression to UIComponent for evaluation.
? 65 - Added standard converter messages. Please see Section 2.5.2.4 “Localized Application Messages” for more
details.
? 66 - Specified that “FormRenderer” must render the “name” attribute with the same value as the “id” attribute. Please
see Section 8.6 “Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation” for more details.
? 67 - Allow the resetting of an input component’s value by introducing a resetValue() method on UIInput.
? 68 - Specify that the component tree may be manipulated throughout the request processing lifecycle, except during
render. Please see Section 2.2.6 “Render Response” for more details.
? 69 - Permit the passing of a null value to SelectItem.setValue().
? 72 - Improve XHTML compliance by rendering both “lang” and “xml:lang” attributes.
? 73 - Added a new FacesException - “javax.faces.application.ViewExpiredException”. Specified that implementations
must throw this exception when an attempt to restore a view results in failure on postback. Please see Section 2.2.1
“Restore View” for more details.
? 74 - Added “disabled” property to “outputLink” and “commandLink”. Please see Section 8.6 “Standard HTML
RenderKit Implementation” for more details.

? 75 - Added “getRequestContentType” and “getResponseContentType” to ExternalContext.
? 78 - Added a more “user-friendly” default error message for UIInput “update model”. Please see Section 2.5.2.4
“Localized Application Messages” for more details.
? 80 - Specify that the JSF Core Tag Library must not contain any tags that cause JavaScript to be rendered to the
client.
? 81 - Enable the message displayed for “required” validation, conversion, and validation to be overridden by the page
author (JSP or non-JSP)
? 82 - Added new feature, the ability to resolve ResourceBundles via the EL without the use of the <f:loadBundle> tag.
? 84 - Added rendered attribute to the core f:verbatim tag. Please see Section 9.4 “JSF Core Tag Library” for
more details.
? 85 - Add new tag: f:setPropertyActionListener. Useful for pushing values into managed beans without allowing
modification of the value.
? 86 - Specified that “OutputLinkRenderer” must render the “name” attribute with the same value as the “id” attribute.
Please see Section 8.6 “Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation” for more details.
? 87 - Modified specification for the setVariableResolver() and setPropertyResolver() methods on
Application to state that they may not be called after the application has served any requests.
? 93 - Added “escape” flag indicating the text of UISelectItem should be escaped when rendering.
? 95 - Allow multiple instances of FacesServlet in a single webapp, mapped with different URI mappings, to use
different implementations of Lifecycle by allowing the lifecycle-id to be specified as an init-param in addition
to the existing way of specifying it as a context-param.
? 98 - Specified that “SelectManyCheckboxListRenderer: and “RadioRenderer” must render the “label” element after
the “input element for each “SelectItem. Specified that the “label” element must refer to the “input” element using the
“for” attribute. Please see Section 8.6 “Standard HTML RenderKit Implementation” for more details.
? 99 - Specified Java EE 5 Generics usage where applicable.
? 105 - Specified that for commandButton rendering, the “image” attribute value must not be escaped. Specified that for
graphicImage rendering, the “src” attribute value must not be escaped.
? 108 - Specified that JSF implementations that are part of a Java EE technology-compliant implementation are
required to validate the application resource file against the XML schema for structural correctness. Also specified
that validation is recommended, but not required for JSF implementatons that are not part of a Java EE technology
compliant implementation. Please refer to Section 11.4.2 “Application Startup Behavior” for more details.
? 111 - Specified that a component must allow child components to be added to and removed from the child list of the
current component, even though the child component returns null from getParent().
? 118 - Specified that an implementation of Map returned from ExternalContext.getSessionMap implement a “clear”
method that calls “removeAttribute” on each attribute in the Servlet or Portlet session.
? 119 - Specified that implementations running in a JSR-250 compliant container have their managed bean methods
annotated with @PostConstruct be called after the object is instantiated, and after injection is performed, but before
the bean is placed into scope. Specified that methods annotated with @PreDestroy be called when the scope for the
bean is ending.
? 120 - Specified in the renderkit docs that commandButton rendering can generate javascript for “onclick” attribute.
? 122 - Clarified renderkit docs with respect to what gets rendered for disabled command link attributes.
? 123 - Clarified renderkit docs with respect to dataTable attribute rendering.
? 124 - Clarified renderkit docs with repsect to graphicImage “alt” attribute.
? 131 - Specified that a compliant implementation must allow the registration of a converter for class java.lang.String
and java.lang.String.TYPE that will be used to convert values for these types.
? 133 - Removed the incorrect statement: “"It is the callers responsibility to ensure that setViewId() is called on the
returned view, passing the same viewId value." pertaining to ViewHandler.createView()
? 134 - Fixed backwards compatability issues.
? 135 - Support Java EE 5 enums as valid types/

? 138 - Change the required return type for action methods to be Object instead of String. This allows the usage of
Enums for the return type of action methods, as long as the toString() method of the enum matches the expected value
in the application configuration resources.
? 145 - Define new method on UIComponent, invokeOnComponent(). This will find a component in the tree by clientId
and invoke a user specified callback on it. Please see Section 3.1.8 “Component Tree Navigation” and Section 4.1.1.3
“Methods” [of UIData] for more details.
? jsf-ri 127 - Specify that FacesContext methods getClientIdsWithMessages( ) and getMessages( ) must be implemented
using order-preserving structures so the items in the iterator are returned in the order they were added with
addMessage().Spec document changes
? 147 - Clarified grammer with respect to component id.
? 151 - Specified standard converter for Enums
? 152 - Specified EL coercion usage in API javadocs UISelectOne/UISelectMany (when items are compared in
validation) and standard html renderkit docs during encoding of select components.
? 154 - Fixed FacesTag “name” attribute discrepency - made it a String (was ValueExpression).
? 155 - Specified “columnClasses”, “rowClasses” descriptions for panelGrid in renderkit docs.
? 160 - Added and specified ResponseWriter.writeText method that takes a UIComponent argument.
? The VDLDocs for the h: tag library are now a normative part of the spec.
Following is a section by section breakdown of the main changes since the last release of this document. This work was
done mainly to support changes in tree creation and content interweaving for JSP based faces applications, as well as for
fixing the following issues from the above list: 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 11 13 15 16 17 18 20 21 27 29 30 35 43 45 47 48 50 51 53
54 55 58 59 65 66 67 68 69 72 73 74 75 78 80 81 82 84 85 86 93 95 98 99 105 108 111 118 119 120 122 123 124 131
133 134 135 138 145 147 151 152 154 155 160.
Preface
? Added new section: Guide to Deprecated Methods Relating to State Management and their Corresponding
Replacements.

? Do per-component actions in a "parent-first" fashion, calling the setValue() method and *then* traversing the
children.
? Describe the new responsibilities of this phase with respect to the new StateSaving changes.
? Describe when ViewHandler.initView() is to be called.
? Describe how the ViewHandler.calculateRenderKitId() and ResponseStateManager.isPostback() method are to be
used.
? Specify that implementations must throw javax.faces.application.ViewExpiredException when an
attempt to restore a view results in failure on postback.
Section 2.2.6 “Render Response”

? Specify that the component tree may be manipulated throughout the request processing lifecycle, except during
render.
Section 2.4.2.1 “Create A New View”

Document that multiple renderkits are supported.

Added updates to standard messages; Also mentioned new parameter substitution token for the generic input component
attribute "label".
Section 3.1.11 “Generic Attributes”

Completely specify how attribute/property transparency works.
Section 3.1.13 “Component Specialization Methods”
Add new method, encodeAll(), which is now the preferred method for developers to call to render a child or facet().
Section 4.1.4 “UIForm”

Document the new prependId property and getContainerClientId() method.
UIData Section 4.1.3.2 “Properties”

Added protected property for DataModel.
UIInput Section 4.1.6 “UIInput”

? Document the behavior of the requiredMessage, converterMessage and validatorMessage properties.
UIInput Section 4.1.6.3 “Methods”

? Add mention of resetValue() to the "Methods" section for UIInput.
Section 4.1.19 “UIViewRoot”

? Change callsite for saveSerializedView and writeState().
? Change to clear the event queue after each phase if skipping to rendering response.
? JSP tag no longer deals with state saving.
Section 5.1.2 and 5.1.3 “ValueExpression Syntax” and “ValueExpression Semantics”

Removed and made reference to EL spec.
Section 5.2.1 “MethodExpression Syntax and Semantics”

Make reference to EL spec.

Section 5.4 “Managed Bean Annotations”
? This new section covers the modifications necessary to allow managed beans to be the target of container managed
dependency injection using the @Resource and @EJB annotations.
? Added section 5.4.1 that specifies how the @PostConstruct and @PreDestroy annotations must be handled.
Section 5.5.3 “ExpressionFactory”

? Update signature of createValueExpresion() and createMethodExpression() to include ELContext as the first
argument.
Section 5.6.1.4 “ResourceBundle ELResolver for JSP Pages”

? This resolver, when coupled with the javax.el.ResourceBundleELResolver, allows the resolution of
ResourceBundles and entries therein via the EL. See also Section 5.6.2.6 “el.ResourceBundleELResolver” and
Section 5.6.2.7 “ResourceBundle ELResolver for Programmatic Access”.
Section 7.6.1 “Overview” ViewHandler

? Document new methods initView() and calculateCharacterEncoding();

? modify createView() to reflect current reality:
? Do the viewId discovery algorithm formerly in restoreView().
? Redirect to the context root if no viewId can be discerned.
? Do the existing processing.
? modify restoreView() to reflect current reality:
? Do the existing processing.
? Do the viewId discovery algorithm now in createView().
? If no viewId can be discovered, return null.
? Always call StateManager.restoreView().
? no longer set the character encoding, this has moved out to the Restore View phase implementation
? change callsite for saveSerializedView() to be saveView().
? added ViewHandler.calculateRenderKitId responsibility of returning the request parameter named
ResponseStateManager.RENDER_KIT_ID_PARAM if not null.
State Saving Section 7.8.1 “Overview”

? Soften the wording about the separation between tree structure and component state, say it's only a recommendation
to keep these two separate.
Section 7.8.2 “State Saving Alternatives and Implications”

? Modified client state saving text to add "It is advisable that this information be encrypted and tamper evident, since it
is being sent down to the client, where it may persist for some time."

? Modified server state saving text to add "Implementations that wish to enable their saved state to fail over to a
different container instance must keep this in mind when implementing their server side state saving strategy. The
default implementation Serializes the view in both the client and server modes. In the server mode, this serialized
view is stored in the session and a unique key to retrieve the view is sent down to the client. By storing the serialized
view in the session, failover may happen using the usual mechanisms provided by the container."
? The values of all component attributes and properties must implement Serializable.
? New section 7.7.6 StateManager in the "Deprecated APIs" section (7.7)
? New section 7.7.7 ResponseStateManager in the "Deprecated APIs" section (7.7)
Section 8.4 “ResponseStateManager”

Describe the non-deprecated methods.
? Added verbiage about ResponseStateManager implementation's responsibility of writing out render kit identifier.
? Describe the isPostback() method.
Section 9.1 “UIComponent Custom Actions”

? Specify that id is now rtexprvalue true.
Section 9.2.8 “Interoperability with JSP Template Text and Other Tag Libraries”
? Changes in the current version of the EL allow Faces applications to use JSTL <c:forEach> tags with Faces
components as long as the items attribute points to a deferred EL expression (ie, a #{} expression, as opposed to an
immediate ${} expression).
? Also, remove the requirements that <f:verbatim> be used, and that components added to the tree
programmatically will only be rendered if they are the children of a rendersChildren==true component
Section “Integration with JSP”

? Changes to account for moving from UIComponentTag/UIComponentBodyTag to UIComponentELTag.
Section 9.3.1.2 “Faces 1.0 and 1.1 Taglib migration story”

? Describe the new jsp-version TLD based migration story.
Section 9.4 “JSF Core Tag Library”

? For listener/converter/validator tags, clarified that exceptions would be rethrown as JspException. Also specfy
JspException should be thrown if certain constraints are not met.
? Specify that tags may have non-deferred expressions as the value of their id attribute.
? Added binding attribute to listener/converter/validator tags.
? Added rendered attribute to verbatim tag.
? Specify that none of the tags in the JSF Core Tag Library may cause JavaScript to be rendered to the client.
Section 9.4.2 “<f:attribute>”

? Specify that the argument value must be interrogated to see if it isLiteralText(). If so, store in the attributes set, If not,
store in the ValueExpression set.

Section 9.4.12 “<f:setPropertyActionListener>”
? New Section, document this new tag.
Section 9.4.21 “<f:view>”

? Added renderKitId attribute description to f:view;
Section 9.5 “Standard HTML RenderKit Tag Library”

? Specify how to handle action attributes that are string literals.
? Call out to VDLDocs for parts of the requirements. VDLDocs are now normative.
Section 11.2.6.2 “FacesServlet”

? Describe how the init-param then the context-param must be consulted for the lifecycleID for this
FacesServlet instance.
Section 11.3 “Deprecated APIs in the webapp package”

New section describing deprecated APIs. Previous section at this address moved to next section number.
Section 11.4.2 “Application Startup Behavior”

? Implementations may check for the presence of a servlet-class definition of class javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet in
the web application deployment descriptor as a means to abort the configuration process and reduce startup time for
applications that do not use JavaServer Faces Technology.

Javaserver Faces Specification: Ed Burns and Manfred Riem Editors

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JavaServer™ Faces Specification

Oracle America, Inc

2. Request Processing Lifecycle 2–1

iii JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

3. User Interface Component Model 3–1

v JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

vii JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

4. Standard User Interface Components 4–1

ix JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

5. Expression Language and Managed Bean Facility 5–1

xi JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

6. Per-Request State Information 6–1

7. Application Integration 7–1

xiii JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

8. Rendering Model 8–1

xv JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

9. Integration with JSP 9–1

xvii JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

xix JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

10. Facelets and its use in Web Applications 10–1

11. Using JSF in Web Applications 11–1

xxi JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

12. Lifecycle Management 12–1

13. Ajax Integration 13–1

14. JavaScript API 14–1

15. Appendix A - JSF Metadata A–1

16. Appendix B - Change Log B–11

xxiii JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

xxv JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

xxvii JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

xxix JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

xxxi JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

Changes between 2.2 and 2.3

Big Ticket Features

See the VDLDocs for <f:validateWholeBean />.

Java Time Support

See the VDLDocs for <f:convertDateTime />.

Use CDI for evaluation of JSF specific EL implicit Objects

Issue ID 1311,1322,1325,1327,1328,1334,1332,1331,1328,1384,1385,1383,1386 - 1394

See Section 5.9.2 “EL Resolution”

Support @Inject on JSF specific artifacts

See Section 5.9.1 “JSF Objects Valid for @Inject Injection”

ui:repeat condition check.

CDI Replacement for @ManagedProperty. See javadocs for javax.faces.annotation.ManagedProperty.

Issue ID 1103, 1364

See the Javadoc for javax.faces.component.UIData, and javax.faces.model.IterableDataModel.

DataModel implementations can be registered

See the javadoc for annotation javax.faces.model.FacesDataModel.

See the javadoc for annotation javax.faces.partialViewContext.getEvalScripts().

Ajax Method Invocation. See vdldoc for <h:commandScript>.

Other Features, by Functional Area

styleClass attribute added to h:column

Add “group” attribute to <h:selectOneRadio>.

ResourceHandler.markResourceRendered(), and isResourceRendered(), UIViewRoot.getComponentResources() enable

In Section 2.2.6 “Render Response”, specify how Server Push is utilized.

2 JavaServer Faces Specification • March 2017

UISelectMany detects converter based on first item.

Explicit support for dynamic component manipulation

Add “disabled” attribute for h:button

UIViewRoot.getViewMap() and publishEvent().

Document UIData.setRowStatePreserved() in VDLDoc and RenderKit Doc.

Clarify text escaping for <h:outputText> or equivalent EL expressions.

Pass FacesContext to system event listeners.